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Music

Dan Mangan

DAN MANGAN with the CRACKLING and DAREDEVIL CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (190 Princes’ Boulevard), Friday (October 28), 7:15 pm. $27.50. HS, RT, SS, TM. See listing.


Dan Mangan has a message for all those people referring to his new album, Oh Fortune (Arts & Crafts), as “dark”: you need to listen harder.

Although it features songs with names like Regarding Death And Dying, If I Am Dead and Post-War Blues, and despite the fact that Mangan’s vocal timbre leans heavily toward poignancy, he insists the celebratory elation he felt while making Oh Fortune is indeed pervasive.

“When I hear the record, it sounds full of movement, and I hope people hear the joy in it, too,” he says. “If people aren’t hearing the playfulness underneath it all and if they’re not aware of the intent of joy in there, then they haven’t heard it enough times – because it is there.”

Perhaps Mangan’s past is working against him. His last record, 2009’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice, which propelled him from Vancouver’s singer/songwriter folk fringes to Canadian mainstream success, did not have an ironic album title. It featured a breakthrough song about the emotional complication of robots.

On Oh Fortune, the 28-year-old is shedding skins in more ways than one. While his previous albums neatly placed him into the aforementioned singer/songwriter category, Mangan’s now writing expansive, orchestral rock songs.

“I never want to feel too comfortable,” he explains. “The singer/songwriter genre has the potential to suck you into a box you can get stuck in. I really wanted to express that I have more in me than just folk. This record is an initial example of that.”

It’s hard to disagree, especially considering the band he assembled for recording and touring. You’d expect a crack combo of folk, country and rock players, but instead Mangan’s crew hail from Vancouver’s noise, experimental and free jazz scenes.

Guitarist Gord Grdina, drummer Kenton Loewen and bassist John Walsh have pushed the sound to a bigger, more textured place.

“I’ve written the melodies and lyrics, but the arrangements have come from a very bandy place. The members are very good about it and so far are excited to be involved.”

Interview Clips

Dan Mangan discusses is efforts to shed the singer-songwriter genre and expand in new directions.

Download associated audio clip.

Mangan, a Vancouver native, offers his thoughts on the Stanley Cup riots.

Download associated audio clip.

music@nowtoronto.com

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