Concert: Dan Mangan & Joel Plaskett

About Dan Mangan:

NATURAL LIGHT was recorded unexpectedly over 6 magical days by four best buds in a cabin by a lake.

Here, there is a return to folk music’s classic underpinnings of political resistance. A return to writing “song songs” that might be played around a campfire. Mangan has experimented rigorously with his sound over the years, but resting in his roots may be where he operates most effortlessly. There is something fitting in Mangan hitting this high watermark at this stage of his life and career. You can trace the chapters of his story in the fabric of Natural Light. You’ll find remnants of the tenacious young artist who booked tours of Europe via Myspace in the mid 2000s. The emergent songwriter who hibernated into fatherhood just as arena-folk exploded in the early 2010s. The genre-bender who has subtly challenged his audience with each album, tracing a unique trajectory of confronting and eclipsing his own art.

Over two decades, Mangan has managed an enviably strong creative ethic, and his integrity as both a singer and songwriter has only strengthened with age. The big picture cohesiveness of Natural Light harkens to a pre-streaming, album-focused sensibility. Songs bleed together through focused transitions and overlapping interludes. Mangan’s lyrics act as gondolier for the journey, reassuring the listener that it’s cool to care. Dan sings for his kids, for his wife, and for a society in existential crisis.

Dan Mangan is a 2x JUNO Award-winning and 3x Polaris Music Prize-nominated musician and songwriter. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife and two sons. For decades, Dan has brought signature wit, sonic innovation and lyrical insight to the indie/folk community, garnering him a fiercely dedicated and deeply involved audience. He has played Glastonbury & Jimmy Kimmel Live, sold out Massey Hall and scored acclaimed soundtracks for television and feature film. In 2017, he co-founded Side Door, a community marketplace platform for the arts that seeks to democratize and decentralize the entertainment industry by connecting artists with alternative venue spaces.

About Joel Plaskett

For over three decades, Joel Plaskett has proven himself a spinning wheel of reinvention. The Nova Scotia songwriter’s eclectic body of work reveals a restless and playful spirit, always transforming and expanding.

Coast-to-coast and the world ’round, Joel has rocked crowds at clubs, festivals and grand old theatres with longtime Emergency bandmates Dave Marsh and Chris Pennell as well as drawn audiences close with intimate acoustic shows, both solo and with his father, Bill. Then there are the special events that have really allowed Joel to reach the rafters, like headlining Toronto’s Massey Hall with everyone in tow, playing the NAC in Ottawa backed by the national orchestra, and warming up huge stages for artists like The Tragically Hip and Paul McCartney. Joel and the Emergency have also been roundly celebrated within the music industry for their work, racking up awards and nominations from the JUNOs, the Polaris Music Prize, the East Coast Music Awards, Music Nova Scotia, and numerous others.

While Joel’s songs are beloved far beyond the community that helped forge his sound, his creative heart is still found at home in Nova Scotia. At 45 Portland Street in Dartmouth, there’s Fang Recording, the studio where he’s made many of his albums and produced records for other great artists like Mo Kenney, Steve Poltz, Shotgun Jimmie and Jimmy Rankin.

And through the door to the front of the building lies Taz Records, Morley’s Coffee and Friction Books. Since 2023, Joel has used the space to present Window Inn Wednesdays, a monthly, no-phones-allowed variety show that pushes back—like most of his projects—against the speed and din of modern life, making space for real engagement between art, artist, and audience.

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