The answer is a cabin in the woods: An interview with Dan Mangan

Dan Mangan is a Canadian indie-folk artist from British Columbia. Off the recent release of his seventh studio album, Natural Light, Mangan sat down with The Gateway to chat about the project. 

Natural Light was recorded spontaneously over six days in a cabin. Mangan said he went out to the cabin just to vacation with his bandmates. At one point, Mangan played them a song he had written. After hearing the song, the band wanted to record it and hear other tracks he had written. This led to them recording the whole record over the six day period. 

Mangan says he was “almost hesitant to really lean on the, ‘made in a cabin’ element, because since Bon Iver, there’s a ‘been done’ kind of feeling to it. For Emma was the cabin album.” 

In both cases, neither artist planned to make an album, let alone record an album, when going away to a cabin. 

“The reason why I’m so excited about this work, and why this work feels to me so vital in my career, is because of that detachment from any kind of outcome,” Mangan explained. “There’s no expectations. The label wasn’t expecting us to record anything. We just sort of went and let the cabin and the vibe speak to us. And just operated out of spontaneity and joy and friendship.”

“I want it to feel like a place they can go, a familiar place, a kind place,” Mangan says

The album revolves around themes of uncertainty with the future, but maintaining hope. “The MO of the record is sort of like, everything’s fucked, but I love you. I want [listeners] to feel like the album is a companion. I want it to feel like a place they can go, a familiar place, a kind place,” Mangan said. 

He added that he incorporated humour into the project as well. While the project does touch on serious topics, Mangan maintains a sense of lightheartedness. He cited the track, “Cut the Brakes,” as an example. It makes light of human progression and has some unserious lines, like “someone ate the last Oreo.” 

“I feel like you can kind of take the piss out of yourself, and you can take the piss out of humanity. I can be reverent about the crises that we have without getting lost in the doom and the gloom.” 

Mangan speaks on society and politics throughout the record as well, but in a way that makes these tracks timeless. Many of the songs on the album were written “six, seven, or even eight years ago,” but maintain relevance with current issues. 

“I want you to be able to listen to these songs in 40 years and have them feel just as relevant as they do now. Now, that being said, I hope that we’re in a better place in 40 years than we are now. But I don’t want music that’s topical to something today. I want songs that can last the test of time,” Mangan explained.

“When the dust settles, I want it to be perfectly clear where I’ve stood,” Mangan says

On using his platform to speak-up politically, Mangan said “I get some people griping at me because I’ll speak up online about environmental issues or the Middle East. And what it comes down to is like, every time you look back at history and something terrible happens, and you think, ‘why didn’t people stop that?’ Or ‘why didn’t people speak up?’ The truth is that people did speak up. They did try. And when the dust settles, I want it to be perfectly clear where I’ve stood.”

He’s willing to push back as well. “The whole ‘shut up and sing’ thing, usually when somebody writes that to you, if they’re a dentist for example, the response is ‘shut up and do a root canal,’” Mangan said. 

He won’t shy away from any topic either. On the track “Soapbox,” Mangan calls to modern Christianity. “I understand what Jesus taught. He taught to give without expectation of receiving, taking care of the vulnerable, loving your neighbour, all these things that modern Christianity wants nothing to do with. Modern Christianity is an institution that thrives on power, patriarchy, shame, guilt, and control. It actually doesn’t want to help the poor, it doesn’t want to feed the needy,” Mangan said. 

He added that he “think[s] Jesus was pretty awesome. And I think that if he was risen again today, Christians would put him back on the cross. He’d be a vegan anarchist feeding sex workers in Detroit, in a hovel somewhere. He would embody all the things that they’re so scared of in today’s world.” 

On whether some would be turned away from his music over some topics, he said “I would rather be myself and face the blowback than sort of toe the line. Some people are seeking ubiquitous stardom, and I’m perfectly fine to have a meaningful relationship with a smaller group of people. I’m not really trying to please everybody all the time.”

Mangan’s new album, Natural Light, released May 16, is Mangan, unapologetically. He is set to play in Edmonton at the Winspear on September 26.