NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Dan Mangan

The world of folky sounding singer-songwriters is a huge sea; it’s very easy to have one bleed into the next without even knowing the difference. One of the singer-songwriters that has really stood out to me in the past few years is Vancouverite Dan Mangan. It’s weird how someone can go from relative obscurity to almost being a household name in Canada in the matter of a few years, but that’s exactly what Dan Mangan has done.

Dan released his first album titled Postcards And Daydreaming in a relatively quiet manner: independently in 2005. Not to say that is album is bad by any means (it really isn’t), but the best was definitely yet to come for Dan.

In 2009, the release of his sophomore album was when Dan’s popularity really began to take off. The album, titled Nice, Nice, Very Nice was released on Arts & Craft records. I can personally say that I listened the hell out of that album, and for good reason; it’s a great album. Nice, Nice, Very Nice really took Dan’s popularity to new heights. It all culminated when Nice, Nice, Very Nice was shortlisted for the 2010 Polaris Prize. The award eventually went to Karkwa for their album Les Chemins De Verre, but Dan gained national recognition because of his nomination.

There were a lot great songs on Nice, Nice, Very Nice, but in my opinion the best of the bunch was “Robots.” I’ve been fortunate enough to see Dan live three times in the past year, and “Robots” is without a doubt the best sing-a-long song that I’ve ever heard. You can check out an example down below. It just gets every single person singing along and into the show so effortlessly.

In 2011, Dan released his highly anticipated third album in Arts & Crafts which was titled Oh Fortune. I’m still not personally sure whether or not I like it more or less than Nice, Nice, Very Nice, but I can safely say that it’s definitely a denser listen. The instrumentation surrounding Oh Fortune definitely adds a level that Nice, Nice, Very Nice didn’t have. Oh Fortune will surely garner a lot of consideration for the 2012 Polaris Prize.

Besides Dan’s gruff voice and captivating music, one of the reasons that he’s so loved in Canada is simply because of how nice he is. I know it seems like something that gets said about tons of musicians, but with Dan it feels more deserved. Staying late after shows and making sure that he speaks to everybody that wants to talk to him must get tough to do, but it’s still something he does night after night.

I, for one, hope that Dan’s popularity keeps growing. He recently won two Juno awards here in Canada, which will hopefully push him into the ears of many people who have never heard his music before.

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LIVE REVIEW: Dan Mangan

by Mark Gillis

Cold, dark, rainy, hardly ideal conditions to be wandering around in uptown Waterloo when I probably should have been studying for midterms. When I'm wandering around waiting for a concert though, it all seems worth it. I was fortunate enough to catch Vancouver native Dan Mangan this past Tuesday at Starlight in Waterloo, Ontario and he did not disappoint.

Dan has made quite a name for himself as a Canadian folk hero over the past couple of years. He released his second full length album 'Nice, Nice, Very Nice' in 2009 to rave reviews and he even got a Polaris Prize shortlist nomination for it. That album really launched him into the upper echelon of the indiesphere in Canada. Fast forward to today and his third LP titled 'Oh Fortune' has been out for a month and just like 'Nice, Nice, Very Nice' it has been accepted very generously.

There were two opening bands, The Crackling (Who are actually Dan Mangan's band) and Molly Rankin. I won't comment a lot on them other than that I found both to be enjoyable. The Crackling played more of a folk style while Molly Rankin played some nice catchy pop tunes. It's nice when opening bands don't bore you to death so it was a pretty good start to the night.

Everyone was obviously there to see Dan though. It got quite busy before he was about to come on so I was glad that I staked out my usual spot in the front, just right of center. Throughout his set he played a good mix of songs from 'Oh Fortune' and 'Nice, Nice, Very Nice'. He has such a rough and aged sounding voice that everything he sings sounds so genuine. He might not be the best singer out there but he sings and plays with a ton of passion, (as does the rest of his band) and that translates into a great live show. He was also quite funny, which is always a plus.

So, I basically breezed through the description of his set to get to the encore that he did, because that was when all the magic happened. I'm a big believer that crowd involvement at shows is necessary to keep people coming back. If you're just going to stand there and play songs exactly as they are on the album then I may as well save myself the 20 bucks and stay home to listen to the album. The encore that Dan did really showed why he's such a beloved figure in Canadian music.

He started out with 'The Indie Queens Are Waiting' by himself, with no band. It was cool because the recording of the song has some parts with female vocals, which the crowd instinctively took over. Next he said he was going to try a cover. I've found in the past that live covers can really be hit or miss. It's tough to know whether or not a cover will get the same reception from the crowd as an original song would. He only prefaced it by saying it was an important song to him and it was probably important to lots of other people in the crowd so he'd try not to screw it up, then he started playing the first few chords to 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea' and I subsequently began to freak out. I think everyone knows how drenched in melancholic emotion that song is, and coupled with Dan's passionate vocals, the song was a highlight of the night to that point. Although, it wasn't the highlight for long.

Anybody who has heard of Dan Mangan has probably heard his song 'Robots'. I'll just say right now that in a live setting that song is the best sing-a-long I've ever heard, bar-none. The lyrics are simple and so readily repeatable. The crowd sang “Robots need love too / They want to be loved by you / They want to be loved by you” over and over again while Dan weaseled his way into the middle of everyone. It was an awesome moment, so have a look for yourself.

I figured that the show would be over at that point. I knew that Robots was usually the last song they played so I was prepared to leave, but then he said he'd play one more song if everyone in the crowd helped sing. The song he played was 'So Much For Everyone' and it created such a cool atmosphere. He basically got the whole crowd to be kind of a backing choir while he sang the song. It's tough to describe how awesome it was so just have a listen for yourself.

When I left it was still cold, dark and rainy outside, but I didn’t really seem to notice after the musically cathartic experience I just had.

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