★★★★★
Summary: bring fortune to spare 2 of 2 thought this review was well written If his first two records were any hint, Canadian folk maestro Dan Mangan was always on the cusp of perfection. 2009's Nice, Nice, Very Nice egged on that coming of age right to the cliff's edge with songwriting gems 'Road Regrets' and 'Fair Verona'; Mangan's mouth like a dripping faucet over a cup, afflicting the surface tension of his own imagination's limits...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2012-05-31
★★★★★
When genre-defining bands such as Mumford & Sons come along and achieve instant mainstream success, it's easy to forget about their genre cohorts, those who have toiled away on the live circuit without anywhere near the same level of recognition. Dan Mangan is one of them. His independently-released 2005 debut album, Postcards & Daydreaming, was promoted and distributed by Mangan himself, online and at live shows...
- www.musicomh.com
2011-12-13
★★★★★
There's a Christmas market that sets up shop here in Birmingham every winter. It's a sprawling web of stalls and vendors that throws a splash of colour and exuberance on an often-dreary extended advent period. I walked through its network of pop-up stalls, past a disparate array of traders trying to offload their goods on my way home last week. As I did so, I listened to Dan Mangan's Oh Fortune...
- drownedinsound.com
2011-12-12
★★★★★
Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Mangan has an impressive CV - he's toured with the likes of The Decemberists and Okkervil River; his second album, Nice, Nice, Very Nice, was nominated for the Polaris Prize; and he's graced festival stages as prestigious as those found at Glastonbury and, stateside, Sasquatch. But this hard work, particularly domestically, is yet to translate into widespread recognition on these shores...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2011-12-07
★★★★★
Dan Mangan is one of those singer/songwriters that tend to ask more questions than he answers. Oh Fortune is an album filled with memorable folk melodies and fairly vague lyrics. Death is a big topic in Mr. Mangan?s mind. One song is called ?If I Am Dead,? while another one is happily titled ?Regarding Death and Dying.? His ?Post-War Blues? deals with death as well, albeit indirectly. After all, war is all about killing and dying...
- www.music-news.com
2011-12-07
★★★★★
If you were ever a fan of Johnny Flynn"s folk-indebted baritone swoons but wished he"d just, like, cheer the hell up a bit, then "Oh Fortune" is here to brighten the melancholic corners and then some. Between Mangan"s quavering vocal and way with a rabble-rouser lies a touch of the Mumfords - but don"t go running just yet...
- www.nme.com
2011-12-01
★★★★★
Dan Mangan's best song, "Road Regrets", was an endearingly straightforward bit of melodic folk-rock, rich with the romantically cynical posturing of a prematurely grizzled young troubadour, that occasional by-the-book example of a sturdy pop/rock formula that actually makes you glad that someone still reads...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-11-28
★★★★★
Vancouver, BC's favourite son made an astonishing splash with his 2009 sophomore album. Nice, Nice, Very Nice brought Dan Mangan critical praise, awards and enthusiastic audiences worldwide. Two years on, it appears the album's wild success has given Mangan the freedom to abandon his acoustic troubadour persona and realize a grander musical vision. Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain), Oh Fortune is packed with intense arrangements...
- exclaim.ca
2011-10-17
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