07/06/10 5:30pm
by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

A silhouette of the Queen shows up on the cover of Dan Mangan’s Polaris Music Prize short listed Nice, Nice, Very Nice sophomore album. Appropriately, the Queen was in Toronto on Tuesday, which was the same day the Polaris short list announcement took place at the city’s Drake Hotel.

Mangan now has a one in 10 chance of having his album declared the most artistically awesome record made in Canada in the last year.

Mangan wasn’t in Toronto, but we spoke with him over Skype about what this all means.

CHARTattack: How do you feel right now?
Dan Mangan: Amazing, amazing. It’s an incredible list. I’m very, very flattered to be a part of it. It’s a really, really amazing kind of mix of Canadian bands. So very, very excited.

If you win, what will you end up doing with the money?
I’m not entirely sure. I don’t wanna speculate — I don’t think that I will but just making the short list is kinda like winning. That if you actually do win, that’s kinda magic, just being on that list is kinda — I feel like I’ve accomplished something just now.

Don’t be modest, why do you think you should win?
I don’t, really. I think that there’s some really fantastic artists on there. Did you say who I think should win?

Well, I asked why do you think you should win. But who do you think should win if you don’t win?
I’m a big fan of that new Broken Social Scene record, and I really love the Caribou record; that is just phenomenal. It’s probably a favorite in a lot of people’s eyes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Shad took it all but in the meantime, I’m just browsing through…

The Heartland record [by Owen Pallett] is incredible.

It’s a tough call. It’s anybody’s game. Who do you think is gonna win?

I don’t know. It’s evenly split between first time people like yourself and people who’ve won before and have been on the short list like Owen and Broken Social Scene, so I don’t know, it’s kinda tough to say.

How do you feel about the fact that your album’s drawn so much critical acclaim that it’s been short-listed for Polaris?
It’s been an amazing year, just straight all the way from recording the album to kind of, getting it out there and touring and seeing all the opportunities that have come in the last year and a half.

It’s been absolutely phenomenal, and you know, when you make a record, you put so much of yourself and your emotional state and well-being into this record and try to make it as best you can. But you have no idea how it’s going to be received by anybody else so — I remember getting the first review back and going, “Oh, man,” and just being afraid to read it.

But it’s been an amazing progression, and I must say that the producer, while we were making it, he said, ‘You know, I really want this to be — in a couple years time, I really want this album to be involved in the Polaris stuff,” and I think at that time — I know it was Caribou that had just won when we were starting to talk about making this record, and I’m such a fan of his records.

It’s hard to kind of fathom all the things that have happened but it’s been a really cool year and I’ve been fortunate.

Did you ever think this record would get as much attention as it’s gotten? Because not only has it made Polaris, but you’re one of Canada’s best up-and-coming artists. You’re doing very well just in terms of your sales and people figuring out who you are and picking up a large fanbase. Did you ever see yourself being this successful when you were making this record?
That’s a good question. It’s funny, I remember in the process of making the record, there’s a number of decisions you have to make, I don’t remember really making any decisions towards radio.

In fact, I remember making a lot of decisions that at the time were probably not a smart decision because it was gonna make it less accessible. But I went into the studio aiming at making a really weird experimental album, and I think what I ended up with was not very weird or experimental and I think it’s like ended up being a straight-forward album in terms of — especially when you compare it to some of the other bands that are on the short list — I would say that mine is probably a little more straight ahead than a lot of the other ones.

But at the time, I don’t remember consciously making decisions to go that way; I think it’s just kinda where it sat in the end. And to have the support from… some of the commercial stations, that’s just been icing on the cake. You can never predict what radio is gonna like and you can’t predict what anyone’s gonna like. And I think all you can really do is try to make something that’s gonna make you creatively satisfied in the end.

And I feel really strongly about Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and when I hear any of the songs, I immediately think of all the things I would do differently if I had a chance. Right now I’m also really excited to look ahead and make a new record.