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Imperfection is a funny thing, people seem to think it a flaw and try to erase it out of their daily lives. They don’t recognize imperfection for what it is, a way of either making you human or propelling you above the crowd. Dan Mangan’s imperfection does the latter. His voice isn’t perfect but it certainly makes him stand out from the rest. It is gravely, raspy and raw yet it is these imperfections that make it interesting and give it texture and depth. There is a lot going on in that voice that is missing from some of the more technically proficient singers. I like a good voice, Dallas Green’s can bring goose-bumps, but I also like a voice that has colour and substance, that can bring the goods to a song without the superficiality that quality can often bring with it. Mangan’s voice does just that on his latest release, Roboteering, a five song EP just released on File Under Music.

This EP is the precursor to this summer’s highly anticipated sophomore release, Nice, Nice, Very Nice. Mangan’s debut album, Postcards and Daydreaming (released in 2005) , received glowing reviews and caused NME to remark, “This folk singer may be only 23, but he sings with the soul of Woody Guthrie – if Woody Guthrie had listened to Godspeed, (You Black Emperor).” They also featured him as one of Canada’s most promising acts. Mangan has been showcased at South-by-South-West, Canadian Music Week, North-by-North-East, The Great Escape in the UK, and Big Sound in the US. So it is a relief to fans to hear that after three and a half years of touring Mangan has new music available. Three of the songs off Roboteering – “Robots”, “The Indie Queens Are Waiting” and “Sold” – will also be on Nice, Nice, Very Nice when it is released in August of this year.

Stylistically the songs on Roboteering are each different but they make a cohesive whole that many bands would do well to emulate. The EP starts off with the amusingly odd “Robots”, which seems to be about growing up, or maybe it’s about having to work, or maybe it’s generally about feeling stuck in a rut – “and I spend half of my life in the customer service line, flaws in the design, a sign of the times” – who knows and who cares. You can interpret it anyway you wish which is a really nice change from the usual spoon-feeding that seems to be common in music these days. It ends with an infectious refrain complete with hand-claps, horns, banjo, a full chorus, and the admonishment that “robots need love too, they want to be loved by you”. Something we should all remember in the years to come with the threat of artificial intelligence hanging over our heads.

“The Indie Queens Are Waiting” is a quirky song with a call/answer chorus. Veda Hille offers light but poignant background vocals, a perfect counterpoint to Mangan’s often world-weary vocals, while a piano line drifts in and out like raindrops. It is reminiscent of Damien Rice/Lisa Hannigan without all the angst and overly-emotional delivery. Even the last song, the spoken-word “Tragic Turn Of Events/Move Pen Move”, is free of the overwrought emotionalism that can be over-bearing in Mr. Rice’s work, fine though it is. And really, if over-emotionalism was called for it is in this song (I have to warn you not to listen to this if you have recently lost a loved one. My mother died over 25 yrs. ago and I still found it very difficult to listen to this song) as it deals with the death of the writer’s mother and his regrets that their relationship was not all it could have been. It isn’t necessarily Mangan’s mother that is the topic of the song since it was written with poet Shane Koyczan but if you have lost anyone close to you, you will definitely identify with the sentiments. Mangan manages to convey the remorse that comes with the regret of knowing you didn’t do everything you could have while they were alive without ever manipulating you. Even in the straight retelling of the story Mangan/Koyczan manage to find humour, macabre as it is.

The arrangements for these songs is sparse, not an extra note, guitar lick, banjo pluck or hand-clap wasted. The production is also sparse and not intrusive calling all the attention to Mangan’s vocals and idiosyncratic delivery. The lyrics are, well, ironic and often quaint, and I don’t mean quaint in the old-fashioned sense but in the pleasantly odd way. All in all I loved this EP and it is well worth the four bucks it will cost you on iTunes.

Mangan is currently touring, tour dates are available on his MySpace page and also on his website, sadly none are in the Toronto area. As well as Roboteering, the upcoming Nice, Nice, Very Nice, Mangan has released Little Snitch EP, Postcards and Daydreaming all of which are available on iTunes. Postcards and Daydreaming is also available at CDBaby, Tower Records, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Allegro Music. Postcards and Roboteering are both available at Zunior. You can also become a fan and keep up with Mangan on Facebook.

Here are a couple of tunes for you off of Roboteering

Robots
Till I Fall

and Postcards and Daydreaming

Journal of a Narcoleptic
Not What You Think It Is

Tags: EP