''Thief'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer-songwriter

Dan Mangan Daniel Mangan (born April 28, 1983) is a Canadian musician. He has won two Juno awards and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs and numerous EPs and singles. He has scored for feature ...

, released November 20, 2020 on

Arts & Crafts Productions Arts & Crafts Productions is a music-focused media and artist services company that offers information as an independent record label, management firm, merchandiser, and publisher worldwide. It has earned 21 Juno Awards. Arts & Crafts has been ...

.Alex Hudson
"Dan Mangan Releases Covers Album 'Thief'"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', November 20, 2020. The album is a collection of

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of songs by other artists, some but not all of which Mangan had previously released as

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s.Stuart Derdeyn
"5 things to know about Thief by Dan Mangan"
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Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', December 1, 2020. With the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

limiting a proper concert tour, Mangan promoted the album with an online streamed concert performance on the Side Door Access platform. Guest musicians on the album included

Amy Millan Amy Millan (born December 3, 1973) is a Canadian indie rock singer and guitarist. She records and performs with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene as well as having a successful solo career. Her second solo album, '' Masters of the Burial'' ...

as a duet vocalist on

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

's "Chances Are", and

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as the backing band on

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

's " Waltz 2 (XO)".

Critical reception

Nathan Pike of ''The Spill Magazine'' praised the album, writing that "A good cover song ought to sound as if the artist has connected to the beauty that exists in their chosen tune, spending time getting to know it, and then introducing it to some new peaks and valleys as it is made into their own interpretation. Thief, a collection of covers recorded over the last decade and the latest release from Canada’s beloved Dan Mangan, holds true to what a worthy cover can be. These aren’t just cherry-picked tunes, they are songs that have held deeper meaning and weight for Mangan."Nathan Pike
"SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DAN MANGAN – THIEF"
''The Spill Magazine''. Stuart Derdeyn of the ''

'' singled out Mangan's versions of

Cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

's "

Love You Madly ''Comfort Eagle'' is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Cake. It was released on July 24, 2001, on Columbia Records, their first with the company. Release In its opening week, ''Comfort Eagle'' sold about 72,000 copies, deb ...

" and

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

's "

Hang with Me "Hang with Me" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn, taken from her sixth studio album, ''Body Talk Pt. 2'' (2010). It was released as the album's lead single via digital download on 16 August 2010, in Sweden, and one day later in the United ...

" as among the album's highlights, noting that Mangan's interpretations placed a whole new emphasis on the romantic or melancholy depth of the lyrics compared to the more upbeat production of the original versions.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Dan Mangan albums Arts & Crafts Productions albums