Polaris Music Prize & thank you Europe!

Hello love,

I got off stage last night in London to see an alert that my recent album Being Somewhere has been long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize!

“…annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction. A select panel of music critics judge and award the Prize without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity.”

If you’re familiar with the UK’s Mercury Prize, it’s quite similar. 40 albums get long-listed, then 10 are shortlisted, and then the winner is given $50,000 (!!!) and much hoopla.

Obviously, this is great news. I believe awards of any kind, even ones with pure intentions to reward artistry, are more about visibility than they are about the actual art. Having had some prior albums listed for this same prize, and several other albums snubbed completely, I can say with some certainty that the quality of the work did not dip. What did dip, however, was my visibility within the machine.

I don’t mean to be ungrateful or dismissive - I’m experiencing a moment of visibility, and for that I am incredibly thankful. I also want artists out there who are feeling invisible to not be discouraged, or to feel that their work is not important. Attention is fleeting, but the work will live on.

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TO ALL THE RECENT NEWCOMERS TO THIS NEWSLETTER… wow. I have just been absolutely blindsided by the love I’ve received at these European shows supporting The Lumineers. I have to admit, I was intimidated to play alone to such massive audiences, but you have gifted me pin-drop quiet hockey arenas - something I didn’t really think was possible for a support act. THANK YOU.

And thanks to The Lumineers for being such sweethearts on and off the stage. This tour has given me a great deal of hope that there is a big blue sky out there for me.

If I’m new to you and you’re looking for a crash course on my music, here goes:

• Being Somewhere (2022) - produced by Drew Brown (Radiohead, Beck). This album is a crusade for tenderness. Sonically exploratory but direct, intimate and earnest. I opened my support set each night with Fire Escape. I believe this album to be my finest work.

• More or Less (2018) - produced in parts by Drew Brown and Simone Felice (who also produced most Lumineers albums). This album digs into my experience with parenthood and finding footing for myself and my family in an abruptly changing world. At these European shows, I played Cold In The Summer, and either Peaks & Valleys or Fool For Waiting.

• Club Meds (2015) - my under-appreciated dystopian opus. I am so proud of this album and when I meet someone who truly gets it, I become giddy. I don’t want to say that I was predicting what was to come in society, but I think it’s safer to say that I was reading the writing on the wall. It’s a bit more challenging but the pay off is great if you give it time. And if you listen closely, you can hear Dave Grohl singing in the song Vessel.

• Oh Fortune (2011) - an orchestral and expansive album full of rich instrumentation bouncing between genres and rabbit holes of thought. I was playing 200 shows a year at this time and wrote the album entirely on the road. This was my first steps of sonic exploration beyond my folky roots.

• Nice, Nice, Very Nice (2009) - a classic singer/songwriter album. This album changed my life. In some Canadian cities, the audiences grew from 50 to 1000 in a matter of months. Several of my most requested songs are from this album. I think I really began to find my songwriting voice with these songs. I was discovering how to give my own take on an old tradition. European audiences heard me play Road Regrets, Basket and a new interpretation of Sold.

• Postcards & Daydreaming (2005) - Not my favourite of my work, but there are some diehards out there who swear by these songs. I was very young and just figuring out how to write decent songs, but there are some moments of glory. I’d start with the other albums and work your way backward.

SO MUCH fun new stuff coming down the pipe in the next bit.

Thank you for your eyes and your ears.

x
Dan

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SHOWS ON SALE

Jun 14. Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach ø
Jun 15. Bath, UK - Moles ø

Jun 25. Kelowna, BC - Red Bird Brewing (solo) ADDED #
Jun 30. Indian River, PEI - Historic St. Mary’s (Under The Spire)

Aug 25. Vancouver, BC - Deer Lake Park !
Sep 21. Cumberland, BC - The Waverley LOW TICKETS *
Sep 22. Nanaimo, BC - Port Theatre *
Sep 23. Victoria, BC - Capital Ballroom LOW TICKETS *
Sep 25. Vernon, BC - Vernon PAC *
Sep 27. Lethbridge, AB - Yates Theatre *
Sep 28. Red Deer, AB - Bo’s *
Sep 29. Calgary, AB - Bella Concert Hall SOLD OUT *
Sep 30. Edmonton, AB - Festival Place Theatre LOW TICKETS *
Oct 1. Edmonton, AB - Festival Place Theatre *
Oct 3. Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theatre *
Oct 4. Regina, SK - Darke Hall *
Oct 5. Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre *

Oct 18. Burnstown, ON - Neat Cafe SOLD OUT
Oct 19. Kingston, ON - Grand Theatre ^
Oct 20. Oshawa, ON - Biltmore Theatre ^
Oct 21. Paris, ON - Paris Presbyterian Church SOLD OUT ^
Oct 23. Hamilton, ON - Bridgeworks LOW TICKETS ^
Oct 24. London, ON - Aeolian Hall LOW TICKETS ^
Oct 26. Richmond Hill, ON - Centre for the Performing Arts ADDED ^
Oct 27. Ottawa, ON - Bronson Centre ^
Oct 28. Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre ^
Oct 29. St. Catharines, ON - Partridge Hall ADDED ^
Nov 2. Waterloo, ON - Maxwell’s ^
Nov 3. Peterborough, ON - Market Hall PAC LOW TICKETS ^
Nov 4. Montreal, QC - Le Studio TD ^
Nov 5. Quebec City, QC - L’Anti Bar ^
Nov 7. Moncton, NB - Capitol Theatre ADDED ^
Nov 9. Fredericton, NB - Fredericton Playhouse ADDED ^
Nov 10. Saint John, NB - Imperial Theatre ADDED ^
Nov 12. Halifax, NS - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium ^
Nov 14. St. John’s, NL - First Light Centre (solo) ^

! = supporting Vance Joy
ø = an Evening with Dan Mangan
# = with support from Kentucky Eileen
* = with support from Gabrielle Shonk
^ = with support from Aysanabee