Dan Mangan : Nice, Nice, Very Nice

<span style="color: black"><img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/danmangannicenice.jpg" alt=" " />Repeat listening of Mangan's <i>Nice, Nice, Very Nice</i></span><span style="color: black"> proves to be not only beneficial, but also therapeutic</span> ...
8.5 Arts & Crafts
2010 

Dan Mangan : Nice, Nice, Very Nice Somewhere within the raspy register of British Columbian songsmith Dan Mangan, lays a driving, though counterintuitive appeal.  Whether it is the nature of his minimalist folk style, or maybe it’s his unusually coarse voice, there is an initial hesitance to one’s musical approval.  Like time to wounds though, the days, hours, and minutes between this hesitance and it’s polar opposite sentiment can fade in a heartbeat, melting in one of the singer’s many moments of subtle, yet consuming musical proficiency.

A quick run through Mangan’s latest, Nice, Nice, Very Nice, generates an admittedly generic first taste.  While immediate standouts “Robots”, “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”, and “Sold” are just that, it’s easy to become impatient with other numbers and skip ahead.  This is completely the wrong way to take the album in.  Instead of scanning and previewing songs, one must instead give the material time to grow into the space that Mangan’s critical acclaim has driven us to expect.  Thirty seconds here or a minute there won’t do either of you justice, but if you trust in Nice, each individual track will inevitably expand; in an instant, the words start to mean infinitely more, and the seemingly modest build-ups resonate.

Songs like “Tina’s Glorious Comeback” and “Basket” begin to jump of the page – the former ringing with an understanding far ahead of the protagonist’s youthful years, and the latter a heartrending look back from an old man realizing the true fragility of life.  It’s within the confines of these converse narratives, along with “Road Regrets” and “Et Les Mots Croisés”, that the album as a whole awakens from any perceived dormancy, and vividly comes to life.  Their hooks and turns transport the listener’s mindset from a place of standard generic folk to the habitat of a formidable Canadian troubadour.

Perhaps the strongest part of Nice, Nice, Very Nice, is its closing trio of beautifully introspective songs.  “Pine For Cedars” begins on a mellow, sentimental note, which carries into the aforementioned brass tinged ballad “Basket”.  The album then lays itself to rest in the magnitude of closer “Set The Sails,” where the singer’s stripped down grace, and painfully relatable feeling overwhelm and overcome.

From its opening note, the album deceives like the overall effect of Mangan’s gruff delivery.  Given any amount of time and compassion though, ordinary becomes vibrant, as modest accounts become romantic epics, and repeat listening of Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice proves to be not only beneficial, but also therapeutic.

MP3 Stream: “Basket”

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