Vancouver songster Dan Mangan reflects on 10th anniversary of album that changed his life

When Vancouver musician Dan Mangan looks back on his sophomore effort, Nice, Nice, Very Nice, he says it's the album that change the trajectory of his life. 

"This is the album that really changed everything for me," Mangan told host Gloria Macarenko on CBC's On The Coast. 

Released in 2009, the album which contained the songs "Road Regrets", "Robots", "The Indie Queens are Waiting" among others brought Mangan commercial and critical success. 

It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.

"I went from playing to 40 people in a coffee shop to ... a sold out [show at] the Vogue Theatre here in town," Mangan said. 

At the time of the release, he didn't have a publicist or really, any team at all. His future with his record label was uncertain and he was in debt from his previous album. 

It was a grassroots fundraising plan among friends and family — with a promise to pay them all back — and a well-timed grant that set the wheels in motion. 

"There was this kind of eye of the storm feeling. Everything was building and generating," he said. 

"We launched into this space where we were expected to be a headlining band and I didn't know what that meant at all."

In honour of the 10-year anniversary, Mangan has re-released the album as a 2-LP vinyl set packed with extra demos, previously unreleased materials and special features. 

It also features an essay, penned by Mangan, looking back at this transformative time. 

"Looking back at yourself and going, man I was so young! I'm jealous of that youth but at the same time, you know, I'm not," he recalled.

"I feel like I'm a better person now than I was then." 

Listen to the interview with Dan Mangan on On The Coast: