Dan Mangan – Race to the Bottom (Official Lyric Video)
Dan Mangan (Photo by Norman Wong; courtesy of Killbeat Music)
“I’ve always been fascinated by nostalgia. I think it’s dangerous”, says Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan. The Juno-award winning musician released his fourth album Cluds Meds back in January of 2015 to critical acclaim, and Mangan has now followed up with a 5-track solo EP Unmake, out today.
Included is the new single “Race to the Bottom”, a song Mangan explains is about nostalgia:
“…various types of people have a slice of the story, but nobody has the whole story. It’s about us grasping for a better or simpler time, but it never existed. Either we’re bummed that we missed out on it, or we’re anxious that we’ll miss the moment when it does come. I’ve always been fascinated by nostalgia. I think it’s dangerous. Putting a halo on the past takes you out of the now, and it’s just not realistic. It’s fantasy.”
Featuring Wintersleep’s Loel Campbell on drums, the new single is backed by a driving percussive force, as Mangan critiques the fault in memory: “Here’s what we know / we don’t know what we’ve got or if we’ve got it / and what we had, we’ve already forgot it”.
Once again, Mangan continues to impress with his poignant lyricism and captivating songwriting. Enjoy the pseudo-slideshow lyric video below, and buy your copy of Unmake EP here. He will be on tour this summer (dates below), but you can head to his website for more information.
Tour dates:
Jun 18 – Toronto, ON – NXNE – Portlands
Jul 15 – Hinton, AB – Wild Mountain Music Festival
Jul 21 – Feldkirch, AT – Poolbar Festival
Jul 22 – Sittersdorf, AT – Acoustic Lakeside
Jul 23 – Sheffield, UK – Tramsline Festival
Jul 24 – North Yorkshire, UK – Deer Shed Festival
Jul 29 – Reutlingen, DE – Burning Eagle Festival
Jul 30 – Dortmud, DE – Juicy Beats
Aug 13 – Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON – Jackson Triggs
Aug 18 – Meaford, ON – Meaford Hall Arts And Cultural Centre
Aug 20, 21 – Peterborough, ON – Peterborough Folk Festival
