Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice

According to the NME, Dan Mangan “sings with the soul of Woody Guthrie – if Woody Guthrie had listened to Godspeed,” one of the sillier “if x had listened to x” descriptions I’ve heard. Moreover, in this case, wide of the mark: there is indeed a gruffness and maturity to his singing that recalls Guthrie, but the apocalyptic melodrama of GYBE is nowhere in evidence on Nice, Nice, Very Nice.

Instead, we find Ryan Adams-esque tenderness and warmth on songs like The Indie Queens Are Waiting, and jaunty David Dondero-like country rhythms on Some People. Occasionally things get a bit mawkish – the refrain of “robots need love too, they want to be loved by you” to a brass accompaniment on Robots is a case in point – but if you can swallow that kind of shtick, there are some exceptionally crafted indie-country gems here. [Sam Wiseman]