IN REVIEW: Dan Mangan - "Being Somewhere"

 

In the nearly twenty years that Dan Mangan has been recording, his music has frequently undergone subtle transitions, while remaining consistently earnest; the acoustic folk of his early years peaked with his 2009 breakthrough Nice, Nice, Very Nice before his  sound opened up to additional orchestration and instrumentation on 2011's Oh Fortune. Club Meds, credited to Mangan and Blacksmith, followed four years later as a full blooded indie rock album that heralded some of the sonic experimentation that would carry over to 2018's More or Less; that album played out like a culmination of sorts, a sum of all the parts picked up along the way and a masterful record that cemented Mangan's place as one of Canada's premier singer/songwriters and paved the way for an exciting future.

Of course, we all know how the pandemic got in the way of everyone's plans; for Mangan, the by-product of Covid was having to craft his follow-up album via remote contact with co-writer/producer Drew Brown, with very little of the album's creation actually happening in studio. As a result, Being Somewhere is Mangan's most intimate record at its core, with the bulk of the songs featuring sparse arrangements and very little in the way of bombast.

Take opener All My People, with its busy percussion and subtle synth acting as support for a relatively straightforward voice-and-acoustic performance that places the focus on Mangan's lyrics (considering his formidable talents in this regard, never a bad decision). Things open up a little with Fire Escape, with some jaunty keys, shuffling drums and occasional bursts of noise as Mangan croons of getting together, even in as small a gathering as outside the building with a handful of friends and neighbours. Easy comes next, offering another sparse acoustic number with subtle percussion as Mangan uses a frustrated delivery to illustrate the anxiety we've all felt in recent years.

Just Know It is another skeletal tune that breezes by in just over two minutes with Mangan emoting over busy keys and barely audible acoustic guitar; one gets the feeling that if it were fleshed out with a tasteful beat it could be a pop hit, but restraint is applied. Next is perhaps the album's most full-sounding track in current single All Roads; featuring a steady beat, strummed guitars and tasteful washes of noise, it feels like the most wide open offering of the batch.

This leads into the emotional centrepiece of the album; In Your Corner, dedicated to Scott Hutchinson (suicide victim, formerly of Frightened Rabbit), features a stark presentation that puts the listener in the room with Mangan as he fights the darkness and offers a helping hand in trying times, choosing to use channel his own suffering into a message of hope and togetherness. It's one of the most intimately affecting songs I've heard all year, and a must-listen to anyone going through dark times.

The subtle electronic touches return for Long After, along with a persistent echo on Mangan's voice that I'm not sure serves the song so well but it doesn't completely derail the song. Wish I Was Here is next, featuring a skittering beat and lightly strummed guitar to create a stripped down but effective tune that injects just a little much-needed energy into the album. After this, only No Tragedy Please remains, a slightly off-kilter acoustic dénouement that uses Mangan's hushed, panned vocal, sneaky background harp and some warbling synth to create an ethereal, somewhat otherworldly ending.

As a record designed to give voice to the uncertainty and darkness of our modern times while offering solidarity and hope, Being Somewhere is a staggering success; that said, it's also undoubtedly the most obvious mood piece in Mangan's discography, so as to say this is an album that requires a certain headspace to get the most out of its message. It's a beautiful record, to be sure, but one that strips bare much of the variety he'd been working into his recent output in favour of intimacy and minimalism; fans of his livelier material won't find much to latch on to here. Still, given the hurdles that had to be cleared in its creation, Being Somewhere's consistency and overall ability to capture its feelings mark it as another fine example of Mangan's unquestionable talent.

October 28, 2022 • Arts & Crafts

Highlights Fire Escape • All Roads • In Your Corner (for Scott Hutchinson)