Gary's Dan Mangan Review

Nice, Nice, Very Nice might be the most appropriately titled album in this entire list of Polaris Prize nominees and perhaps of all time (unless Kenny G named any of his albums Generic Horn Music for Awkward White People). Dan Mangan’s offering is exactly that – nice. It’s the type of album that elicits words like nifty and neat and reminds me of music your mother would strongly approve of.

It’s safe to say no envelopes were pushed or animals harmed in the making of this album.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album by any stretch, but I – unlike Dave – felt zero emotional connection with this album (which is the fascinating part about this blogging process). Maybe under different circumstances, or pitted against less impactful Polaris Prize fare (like this year’s incredible line-up), Mangan would have stood out a little more from the pack.

The album begins promisingly enough, with Road Regrets eliciting a little toe-tapping here and there, but that’s about it. Robots follows and wastes little time in breaking out the clumsy clichés where robots are equated to heartbroken lovers, ending with a saccharin sing-a-long (robots need love too).

And such are Mangan’s lyrics – rarely treading into imagery and allegory, preferring the more heart-on-the-sleeve approach of putting it all out there. And when he does use metaphor it’s usually with slightly cheesy results (please see aforementioned Robots).

It’s also a bizarre album tonally ranging from 90s era Barenaked Ladies (Some People, Sold) to the Pogues (You Silly Git) but cohesively held together with that blunt lyrical style. And perhaps this is what keeps me from getting to deeply involved with this album. Mangan is unabashedly open and honest with his words and some people (ie – me) find this off-putting.

I should reiterate that this isn’t a bad album (which explains its inclusion in the Polaris Prize shortlist), and the worst thing you could say about it is that it’s corny and maybe a bit middle-of-the-road (a serving of vanilla ice cream with a side of white bread). Mangan is clearly a talented musician and songwriter and if that busking acoustic thing is your cup of tea have I got an album for you. But with so many of the bands on this year’s list creating soundscapes as complicated as the Taj Mahal, Mangan’s album sounds a little like a tree fort in comparison.

And I have to say I gain no pleasure from saying this, because Dan Mangan seems like a nice guy. Nice, nice, very nice indeed.