Dan Mangan is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his breakout album, Oh Fortune, with a new edition of the album.
Today’s re-release comes with a bonus disc of 10 album outtakes, demos, and live versions of Oh Fortune era tracks. Most of those bonus disc tunes have never been heard before.
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“Four years of thought and trial-by-fire manifested in the creation of Nice, Nice, Very Nice,” Dan Mangan explains. “I’d spent that time cutting my teeth in the corners of noisy bars to people who were there for the drinks and, almost specifically, not for the music. My presence was not anticipated, but, more accurately – tolerated. Sometimes I’d had other musicians with me, but most often, I was alone. I felt like a comedian, chiseling my material in the underground. Figuring out what kept people, and what didn’t. I had to earn every perked ear. I played cafes, living rooms, back yards, sports bars – literally anywhere that would have me.”
Stream the tenth anniversary edition of Oh Fortune below.
An excerpt from Dan Mangan’s essay on Oh Fortune:
“Oh Fortune was born of a different kind of storm,” Dan Mangan continues. “Luckily, Nice, Nice, Very Nice had succeeded. Those bars became theaters, and the momentum of a burgeoning career demanded a more consistent cast of faces in the van. I knew that I had learned to hold an audience. I knew that I had begun to unfold my mind through lyrics and melody.
“Oh Fortune is about changing. Shifting. Adjusting to new footholds in new sands. Finding glory in letting go. Surviving another day and being a touch stronger for it. It’s about dangling your legs for the sharks. It’s about stories to tell as we age. It’s about aching for rain. It’s about the taste of something. It’s about the veins of a lear mirroring the rivers of its forest. It’s about flags burning together. It’s about the daylight forgiving you.”
Read Dan Mangan’s essay in full here.
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