Dan Mangan + Blacksmith – Club Meds

For someone whose award-winning solo efforts were already full of charming heft, Dan Mangan’s first ostensible outing with the full band Blacksmith (they played alongside him on 2011’s Oh Fortune) is a tidal, engrossing record. Club Meds might not be as fun as say, Mangan’s 2009 debut LP Nice, Nice, Very Nice, but it explores more nuanced, adventurous corners, and is very much the product of Blacksmith’s roster of Vancouverite experimental musicians.

His vocal is still front and centre; rich but not too husky, a bit like Paul Banks on Kitsch and the dolorous War Spoils, a bit like Mark Oliver Everett on the catchy Vessel, but always with its own distinctive warmth, like coals from a sauna. We’re treated to piano, dusky country (Mouthpiece), and forlorn jazz (XVI, New Skies), with the net result much deeper and more textured than Mangan’s prior work. It’s a confident stride in the right direction, at ease in its cosy darkness. [George Sully]