Dan Mangan - Next Big Thing

I first got my taste of Dan Mangan's music a few years ago. I had just returned from a year abroad in Australia and Mangan was playing at a local dive bar with other local singer/songwriter types. The pub was filled with a familiar university crowd. You got the feeling that those who were present were there to support friends or friends of friends. I tagged along with my brother. He was familiar with Dan Mangan the musician as well as Dan Mangan the individual from their time together at UBC.

Fast forward to 2009 and Dan Mangan releases his sophomore record. The album entitled Nice, Nice, Very Nice receives much deserved attention on Vancouver's newly established indie rock radio station. Growing up on the west side of Vancouver and attending the local university, Dan has always had a strong cult following in Vancouver. His song writing strikes a chord in the local watering holes and neighbourhoods of the city.

On "Tina's Glorious Comeback" Mangan sings of playing at the Railway Club in Vancouver, a hotspot for up-and-coming local artists while the meandering "The Indie Queens are Waiting" Dan asks "Are we cool now?" in somewhat of a self-deprecating muse about his place in our city's often pretentious indie music scene.

But those feelings of modesty are proving to be somewhat unwarranted. Recently, Mangan was shortlisted for Canada's coveted Polaris Music Prize. A list which includes Arts & Crafts label-mates Broken Social Scene as well as other indie heavyweights such as Tegan & Sara, Caribou and Owen Pallett.

A proud Vancouverite and the sole Westerner on the Ontario-based Arts & Crafts, Mangan most recently entertained the city on the shores of English Bay as part of this year's Shorefest, a free concert series coinciding with the Celebration of Light and featuring some of Canada's hottest acts and emerging Vancouver artists. While near to the stage it was standing room only, those on the beach who had come for the fireworks, wondering what the buzz was all about, quickly turned around to take in the performance. Mangan’s well-received set ended in his now trade-mark fashion - by inviting friends and fellow musicians onto the stage to participate in the sing-along crowd-pleaser “Robots.”

At the age of 27 Mangan is already somewhat of a performance veteran. He sold out Vancouver’s Vogue theatre back in June and has recently returned from touring Canada, Australia and the UK including a stop in England at this year's famed Glastonbury festival. He is currently embarked on a tour of the U.S. in support of album Nice, Nice, Very Nice which was released stateside August 10th 2010. For more information, check out http://www.danmanganmusic.com/

Dan Mangan - Robots