WOODEN BIRDS and DAN MANGAN at the Pike Room

THURSDAY AUGUST 26
doors at 8PM
tickets: $8 (buy tickets)

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Andrew Kenny is a Texan native who after nearly six years in Brooklyn, NY has returned to beautiful Austin, TX. He's best known as the singer/songwriter behind Austin, TX mellow indie favorites the American Analog Set. However, he's also performed as a guest artist with the Album Leaf, Her Space Holiday, Styrofoam, Ola Podrida, and most recently the Broken Social Scene. His latest project is called the Wooden Birds and is his best effort to date. The Wooden Birds' first album, Magnolia, is due out this Spring on Barsuk Records in the US and on Morr Music in Europe. Fans of the the AmAnSet will recognize his voice and song writing immediately, but the arrangements on Magnolia are more vocal and percussion heavy than anything he's done before.

With DAN MANGAN: Heralded as a favorite among Canada's new breed of independent musicians, DAN MANGAN:’s travels initially took him everywhere but home. Spending most of the last six years toting guitar and merch-sack, Dan experienced Vancouver as more of a resting place than roost. He toured nearly non-stop in support of his debut album Postcards And Daydreaming, testing his words, honing his craft, and building a dedicated following.

Recently signed to Arts & Crafts, the trail-blazing indie label that brought us Broken Social Scene, Feist, and Stars, Dan Mangan is the first on their roster from the Pacific Northwest. Though Vancouverites once envied the thriving music scenes of Montreal and Toronto, Mangan’s rain-soaked hometown has since developed a potent scene of its own – in recent years, its eclectic and supportive musical community has produced the likes of The New Pornographers, Ladyhawk, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Black Mountain, and Japandroids. Mangan is yet another native son of this emergence.

Dan’s songs brim with subtle images and irreverent wit. He has a knack for making what is quaint seem universal and what is universal quaint, so that even his most layered lyrics feel strangely familiar. His uniquely gravelled voice conveys a rare type of honesty, a gift that seems to transcend demographics. On stage, his presence is easy and open. It could work against him, but there’s no façade; here’s a talented, hard-working and unpretentious musician with a poet’s way of seeing through absurdity.