Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune

Dan Mangan - Follow up to 2009's exceptionally fine Nice, Nice Very Nice continues the Vancouver songwriter's steady shift from acoustic-wielding folk singer to burgeoning indie alt-pop-with-an-edge artisan...the tales are as witty and sharply etched as when he started out but the colorful creative palette in the studio has grown significantly...Mangan calls the experiences of the past few years as "life changing stuff" // Release: Oh Fortune (September 27, Arts and Crafts) // Sounds like: the ambitious new project picks up Nice-ly where the last left off, a fully fleshed-out production (from Colin Stewart) that highlights Mangan's bold arrangements as well as his gift at wry, often observational songwriting...Mangan's rich and raw vocals are the perfect complement to the dense instrumentation...

Quote: “Sometimes I feel like I’m maybe divulging too much or kind of exposing too much of myself. But at the same time I don’t think that there’s a unique or new emotion that’s existed. If you have felt a certain way on some day, every single person on this planet, every single one, has felt that way." // What we like: "Rows of Houses" exemplifies the spacious, band-focused power of Mangan's songs, the acoustic beginnings turned into something raggedly grand -- much like what Crazy Horse did for Neil Young...the careening waltz "About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help at All" keeps the ends nicely frayed, even as the orchestrated backing adds a more delicate bauble to the mix...

Dan Mangan - "About As Helpful As You Can Be..." (from Oh Fortune)

Dan Mangan - "Rows of Houses" (from Oh Fortune)