It would be easy to come up with any number of clichés that could describe the way I feel about Dan Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice: it feels like an old pair of jeans, it’s like a prefect cup of coffee, it’s comfortable and it’s home. But it’s more than all of those combined - for me this album is simply honest.
Dan Mangan seems to have caught a magical piece of himself and put it on this recording. Robots is the track that makes everyone take notice, which it should – if there was a Polaris Prize for song, it would get my vote 100%. In Robots Dan sings ‘ring the bells that still can ring and sing your stupid head off to the ones who are not listening.’ That is just what that this album is – it’s Dan Mangan, playing the bells that work for him while singing his head off. And it’s magical from top to bottom.
The bells that Dan plays are simple narrative lyrics, sung through a warm smoked voice, combined with arrangements that include at times violins (You Silly Git) a stand up bass and what I think sounds like a washboard (Sold). But it all works, because Mangan took that leap as an artist that you often hear singer/songwriter types talk about – doing what might not be expected, but what their heart is telling them to do. The best sound on this album is the sound of Dan Mangan believing in what he’s playing and singing for you at every turn.
It’s easy to dismiss this as another folksy arty Canadian singer/songwriter, but there is tons of great things that happen throughout this album. I’ve spent a lot of time with Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and every time I learn to love something more about it. Today it might be just one lyric, and tomorrow it might be an arrangement – but it seems I can find something new in every listen – and for that the album is special and to me a remarkable piece of work, from artist who you can believe in – for albums to come I hope.
DAVE'S KEY TRACKS: 'Robots'; 'Sold'; 'Tina's Glorious Comeback'; 'Basket' - but try them all, each one is solid.
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