Radicals
1. We Want To Be Pleasantly Surprised, Not Expectedly Let Down 2. Stairway (Yukon Blonde Cover)
Release Date:
October 16, 2012
Formats:
DD | 7″
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Oh Fortune
Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Cave Singers) at The Hive in Vancouver, Oh Fortune carries collaborations from many esteemed improvisational and experimental musicians including Eyvind Kang (Beck, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, John Zorn), Jesse Zubot (Nels Cline, Mats Gustafsson), Gord Grdina (Gary Peacock, Paul Motian), Kenton Loewen (Mats Gustafsson, Jerry Granelli), JP Carter (Fond Of Tigers, Inhabitants) and Peggy Lee (Wayne Horvitz, Veda Hille).
Currents of mortality, isolation, and desperation run through the album, and yet its title comes from a reflection of a ticker-tape parade celebrating the return of Gertrude Ederle to the United States in 1926. For a heartbeat, she was the country’s biggest celebrity. She had just become the first woman to swim the English Channel, and simultaneously the new world-record holder (previously held by a man).
There exists in Oh Fortune this chaos of juxtaposition. It could be taken as a sad or dark album, yet musically it kicks with more ferocity and tenacity than people may expect from Mangan. It debates melancholy while it anticipates incredible moments of glory and victory. It’s not sad, it’s simply honest.
1. About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All 2. How Darwinian 3. Post-War Blues 4. If I Am Dead 5. Daffodil 6. Starts With Them, Ends With Us 7. Oh Fortune 8. Leaves, Trees, Forest 9. Rows Of Houses 10. Regarding Death And Dying 11. Jeopardy
Release Date:
September 27, 2011
Formats:
CD | DD | LP
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“Packed with grandiose Grizzly Bear harmonies (highlight – ‘Rows of Houses’) and slow-building, orchestral touches (‘How Darwinian’), Oh Fortune spans a wider spectrum than its folky core might imply, adding a grandeur and a refreshing cerebral spin to proceedings.”
- NME
“This is a perspective that strikes, simply, as wise, a fact that is really what separates Mangan from similarly scruffy singer-songwriters, to say nothing of pop musicians in general: Oh Fortune is one of the rare albums that is a kind of education in how to be human in a strange and — as its namesake amply demonstrates — harsh world.”
- The National Post
“Canadian acoustic troubadour invents post-folk…a great artistic leap…Mangan serves up the welcome alternative”
- Q
“On a beautiful record that balances lyrical bleakness with bursts of colour, Mangan confirms his position as one of the most thought-provoking writers of his generation.”
- The Sunday Times
“Oh Fortune offers deeper delights and songs you can truly sink your teeth into.”
- Exclaim!
“Hugely impressive… An album of songs with wry, razor-sharp, self-observational lyrics and arrangements that are deceptively complex.” (4/4)
– The Times
“He released a career defining record, and came back with something much bolder and self-assured than just another song writer record.”
- Herohill
“After hearing Oh Fortune, my heart dropped and my lungs were filled with anticipation. There simply was no room for air, let alone words.”
- The Fulcrum
“Oh Fortune offers musings on the darkness of our times, but the album really resonates because, deep down, these are really Mangan’s stories, his concerns and his questions, delivered with a reinvigorated wit and a reinvented sound.”
- The Vancouver Sun
“Mangan has created a land of dreams on Oh Fortune, showing the same signs of artistic restlessness which have characterized the output of bands like Radiohead and Wilco in recent years. Change can be painful and unsettling, sometimes it’s easier to turn back, but great artists know how liberating and exciting new music can be.”
- The Line Of Best Fit
“Textured, poignant and meticulous as an expressionist painting, Oh Fortune will leave an enduring print in your mind.”
- Hour
“With that fuller and more expansive sound, a Polaris Prize is certainly within reach.”
- FFWD
“A cathartic masterpiece, rectifies the unrest beautifully, earning Mangan a warranted likening to Bon Iver. What’s most impressive is Mangan’s ability to address difficult metaphysical questions without sounding too inflated.”
- Vivoscene
“[Mangan] has leapt ahead not one or two steps, but three or four. ”
- NOW Toronto
“Oh Fortune serves as a major landmark for Canadian independent songwriters, and will likely be seen as one of 2011’s strongest homegrown efforts.”
- Western Gazette
“Mangan’s raw, haunting timbre easily evokes the slate-grey skies, the foreboding trees and the damp chill of a sleepy Northwestern logging town where are nothing as they seem and hidden heartaches linger close to the surface (think David Lynch’s Twin Peaks). This is spine-tingling good stuff from one of Canada’s best songwriters. ”
- Uptown
“Dan Mangan’s always been an unusually sharp example of the singer-songwriter: packing clever hooks with world-wizened lyrics that seem awash in personal details while still being capable of delivering on some universal insight. I suppose that’s really the name of the game, but Mangan’s always been a little better, his songwriting a bit tighter and more confident, with more going on under the surface than. Oh Fortune, his third full-length, only further chisels that reputation into marble.”
- Vue Weekly
“The Vancouver folk singer’s second is much more full but still as stark and beautiful, brilliantly employing horns and strings to support his honeyed baritone.”
- Philadelphia Inquirer
“Although the Vancouverite and Polaris Prize shortlister is the maitre d’, his voice perfectly able to become more gravelly should the crescendo warrant it, this neo-rootsy album feels like a collaborative journey, as if the entire village was needed to enthusiastically exorcise his own dark lyrical demons.”
- Montreal Mirror
“Warm, cold, up, down, dirty, clean, Mangan has mapped it all out quite astutely, with an impressive attention to even the most minor details. Like a tidal wave in a goldfish bowl.”
- Rhythm Circus
“Oh Fortune refuses to take up residence in any pigeonhole”
- Ottawa Express
“it is “Rows of Houses” that blows everything else out of the pool here. I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s one of the songs of the year…Impressive.”
- Impose Magazine
Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Titled in reference to a Kurt Vonnegut poem, Nice, Nice, Very Nice was recorded in Toronto in fall 2008 under the creative eye of producer John Critchley (Elliott Brood, 13 Engines). Dropping in to add their talents were folks such as Justin Rutledge, Veda Hille, Mark Berube and members of Elliott Brood, Said The Whale, Hidden Cameras, Major Maker and Small Sins.
1. Road Regrets 2. Robots 3. The Indie Queens Are Waiting 4. Sold 5. Fair Verona 6. You Silly Git 7. Tina’s Glorious Comeback 8. Et Les Mots Croisés 9. Some People 10. Pine For The Cedars 11. Basket 12. Set The Sails
Release Date:
August 10, 2009
Formats:
CD | DD | LP
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“…Knocks you flat on your ass… Mangan’s career is clearly on the rise. Hop on board and enjoy the ride.”
-Exclaim!
“From his unusual and razor-sharp phrasing to the sage poetry in his everyday-life observations, he’s in the ranks of geniuses such as Greg Brown, Nick Drake or Badly Drawn Boy.”
-The Province
“He’s an observer in the sense you’d want to join him on a patio for a drink just to see the city through his eyes for an afternoon. Until then, Nice, Nice, Very Nice effectively lets you pretend for just over 40 mesmerizing minutes.”
-CHARTattack
“With some of his strongest work to date and an already large fan-base, Nice, Nice, Very Nice could very well be the album that solidifies Mangan as the standout artist he is.”
-Discorder
“It’s hard to believe that this new collection of stellar songs won’t help him leave each tour stop with countless new fans in his corner.”
-Herohill
“Ultimately, it’s that ability to write lyrics that beg for some consideration of their meanings”
-Vue Weekly
“Listeners wouldn’t expect the cheeky content to sail through waves of dynamic choral balladeering and colourful instrumentation, but Mangan doesn’t only pull it off, he makes it soar. “
-SoundProof Magazine
Roboteering EP
The songs on Roboteering EP reveal familiar voices. Amid “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”, “Sold” and “Robots” (all from LP Nice, Nice, Very Nice) are the vocal and instrumental lendings of Veda Hille, Mark Berube and Mark Sasso (of Elliott Brood). “Till I Fall” is a revamped resurrection of a recording from one of Mangan’s earliest demos (All At Once, 2003). Closing out the EP is “Tragic Turn Of Events / Move Pen Move”, a nearly-nine-minute collaboration of Dan’s music and the spoken word of Shane Koyczan. Originally released on Koyczan’s album, A Pretty Decent Cape In My Closet, the piece features Shane’s poetry. A limited pressing of 1000 copies of Roboteering EP was implemented for the release.
1. Robots 2. The Indie Queens Are Waiting 3. Sold 4. Till I Fall 5. Tragic Turn Of Events / Move Pen Move (feat. Shane Koyczan)
Release Date:
March 10, 2009
Formats:
CD | DD
(Permanently Out Of Stock)
“If this is the quality of the forthcoming album then it will be immense.”
-Americana UK
“It’s all great, just great. Hurry up with the rest of it, dude.”
-Exclaim!
“Mangan’s distinctive voice, which is confident and weary beyond his years, sounds like it’s been aged in oak… Compelling, twisty and imaginative.”
-The Georgia Straight
“Mangan’s next move is definitely going to be worth waiting for.”
-London Tour Dates
“Feels so beautiful and personal that time ceases to exist.”
-CHARTattack
“A slightly rough-at-the-edges troubadour, singing true with a golden heart and an earnest charm.”
-Sound Proof
“Think Jim Bryson tubing down the Red River with a bottle of rum”
-30Music
Postcards and Daydreaming
Originally released independently in 2005, Postcards and Daydreaming was re-released in Canada, USA and Australia in 2007/8. The re-released version included new artwork and an extended track “Ash Babe”. The original thousand copy pressing of P&D is disbursed throughout the stereosphere.
1. Not What You Think It Is 2. Unnatural Progression 3. Above The Headlights 4. Journal Of A Narcoleptic 5. Don’t Listen 6. So Much For Everyone 7. Western Wind 8. Fabulous 9. Come Down 10. Some Place To Come Home To 11. Reason To Think Aloud 12. Ash Babe
Release Date:
July 10, 2007
(Original independent release October, 2005)
Formats:
CD | DD
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“This folk singer may only be 23, but he sings with the soul of Woody Guthrie – if Woody Guthrie had listened to Godspeed (You Black Emperor)”
-NME
“The deliciously downbeat Postcards and Daydreaming is a good sulky-day companion for anyone who has already invested in the collected works of Hayden or Crooked Fingers.”
-The Georgia Straight
“Reverential elegance… It’s not easy to play slowly but Mangan’s growly ruminations demand it.”
-The Province
“There is poetic power here.”
- Exclaim!
“In the end, the real appeal of this album is that even through a static speaker, it still seems as though Dan Mangan is singing only to you.”
-Youthink Magazine
”His gruff croon has enslaved my ears, it’s just so horribly beautiful… Resistance is futile. There is no escape. Let this be a warning – once you’re into this album, there is no getting out.” (Rating: A)
-Uptown
” * * * * * ”
-Halifax Daily News
“It is a mystery to me why Dan Mangan has not yet reached superstardom…”
-The Ubyssey
“Patrick Watson plays the creepier Jeff Buckley to Dan Mangan’s Damien Rice, but Watson can’t touch Mangan’s live ode to MySpace.”
-The Austin Chronicle
“A knack for the kind of sad songs that could potentially drive you to drink.”
-Metro
“His voice opens up and loats around the room like the smells from my cup of coffee and really let’s you have something to hold onto on those days where everything else seems lost.”
-Hero Hill
