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W E D N E S D A Y

Canadian singer/songwriter Jann Arden has built a career on her fixation on the miseries of love. Her second recording, Living Under June, offers up big helpings of unfulfilled longing, rejection, and isolation, scoring hits with titles like “I Would Die for You” and “Unloved” (a duet with Jackson Browne). Arden layers her sad tales with twists of irony and humor, luring listeners into her world-weariness with strikingly catchy rock and folk arrangements. On the groove-laden new single “Could I Be Your Girl,” Arden even pokes fun at her own neuroses. Her big-voiced songs haven’t produced the debut success of a Sheryl Crow or Shawn Colvin, but Arden’s Birchmere performance will no doubt underscore why her long-term prospects are brighter. At 8 p.m. at the Birchmere, 4901 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $12. (703) 549-5919. (Dane D’Alessandro)