• How Dan Mangan released me from 7 years of solitary confinement.

    Years ago, while searching for a file on a backup hard drive, I stumbled upon some recordings that my partner John MacArthur Ellis had started to produce for Dan Mangan. I had heard Mangan’s songs all over the radio by then, so I knew enough to know there was likely something interesting at my fingertips. Upon listening though, I was quite stunned by the sparkling hidden treasure I had discovered. The tracks were raw and haunting, subdued yet powerful. Mangan’s honest and vulnerable vocals were even more refreshing against the intimate, spacey, and open backdrop that John had created for him. There was magic in these recordings. The kind of…