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Dan Mangan kicks off May's GO Fest

It's a summer of touring and new music from Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter
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FAITH IN THE MUSIC Singer-songwriter Dan Mangan plays GO Fest in May. Photo submitted

At 32, singer-songwriter Dan Mangan knows he's not the new kid on the block. He's kind of a veteran.

He laughs at the suggestion.

"I think that there's definitely some truth to that. It's funny to think, 'Oh no, I'm 32!' But I've had 10 years of touring and four full-length records and EPs. I certainly don't feel the benefit of the doubt that you feel when you're 20," he says.

"It's a double-edged sword because when I first started out with the young upstart, DIY-kid thing, everyone wanted to get behind that.

"But you graduate to the level of being on the touring circuit, you've got your (record) label and your agent... you just do it."

The two-time Juno Award winner performs a free concert at the Great Outdoors Festival (GO Fest) on Friday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. on the festival mainstage in Village Square.

This is back in the saddle for Vancouver-based Mangan, who lay in winter fallow writing songs and preparing a new release. Details will come in the next couple of weeks, he says.

"We are about to announced some new music," Mangan says.

"I've been doing a lot or writing and preparing for whatever the next phase is... it's not full length but it is a bunch of new music."

He's says it's a good place to be and it allows him to do what he loves most — perform — while stockpiling songs.

Mangan's last album was Club Meds (2015), an album he considers his most mature work to date.

"Artistically, hands down, it was the strongest thing I've ever been a part of, most thought through. It got some very strong accolades from incredible places, but it didn't really receive the same love from radio," Mangan says.

"You have to have faith that in the long term that what you're doing is contributing to a body of work. If you base your self worth off momentary reassurance that what you're doing is good, then you're going to lose focus pretty quickly.

"It has been an interesting time to reflect on that."

Mangan is bringing a four-piece band to Whistler, the first of a few one-off gigs and festival stops, but in July he will be touring as a duo with guitarist Gord Grdina, which will include a tour of Europe and Eastern Canada.

"We're trying to switch it up from the band thing, which I've been doing for a long time, peeling back some of the layers and trying a more stripped back approach," he says.

"It's how I began, so in a way it's returning to those roots a little."

For more information on GO Fest visit www.greatoutdoorsfest.com.