Dan Mangan

Somewhere deep within the Canadian Ministry of Culture, there must be an office full of people fervently working to distil indie music down to its purest, sweetest form and secretly sending the formula out to every garage band in the Dominion. That's the only way we can explain the sheer monopoly Canada has on indie pop right now. Spawning bands like Great Lake Swimmers, Arcade Fire and Women in the last couple of year, it's starting to get a bit ridiculous.

Dan Mangan is the latest in a long line of annoyingly good singer/songwriters to emerge from the Northern Territories. Sort of like a Canadian version of Jack Dee, he makes delightfully downbeat indie-folk that blend toe-tapping rhythms with whistful lamentations on lost loves, broken hearts and good times long gone.