Aimee Mann is a pop psychologist, specializing in tuneful analyses of crises brought on by disillusionment and defeat. "This is how it goes, / you'll get angry with yourself / and think you can think of something else," begins "This Is How It Goes," one of 19 seductive songs she performed Saturday at the Tower Theater.

From her start with 'Til Tuesday through her Oscar-nominated Magnolia soundtrack, Mann has blended cynical pessimism with wistful longing; she's a hopeless romantic, with the emphasis on hopeless. But her best songs juxtapose melancholy lyrics with lyrical melodies worthy of the greats - Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Harry Nilsson - and the tension between the sharp insights and the killer tunes makes Mann one of pop's best songwriters.

At the Tower, Mann and her acoustic guitar led her four-piece band through highlights of her solo career. She's a stylish perfectionist, and most of the arrangements hewed closely to the album versions, with Michael Lockwood occasionally injecting an edgy electric guitar lead.

Mann easily navigated the syncopations of "That's Just What You Are" and the tricky melody of "Humpty Dumpty" from the recent Lost in Space, and she romped through a welcomed blast of power-pop with "Long Shot."

She's also a witty host: Mann joked about Axl Rose's First Union Center no-show on Friday ("I hope I become that famous, because I'm going to out-jackass all the jackasses," she quipped) and teased the crowd after "Invisible Ink." ("I bet you'd clap louder for Coldplay.")

4 Way Street - Philly singer-songwriters Ben Arnold, Jim Boggia, Scott Bricklin and Joseph Parsons - opened with innocuous harmony-laden songs from its forthcoming debut that were no match for Mann's blend of the sorrowful and the pithy.