"Robots need love too / They want to be loved by you" is both a sing-along phrase in Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan's song Robots and a perfect summation of his character: colloquial, humourous and cutely sentimental, too. They're also words Mangan convinced some of the top figures in Canadian music to sing at this year's Polaris Prize gala. Everyone from CBC's Jian Ghomeshi to Explore Music's Alan Cross were in the crowd, along with a slew of other nominated artists including Shad, Broken Social Scene and Tegan and Sara.

"It was so humbling to be there that night alongside so many people that I've respected for a long time," he said in an e-mail, sent soon after his return from a European tour. "(I) must say it was certainly a highlight of my career."

Now from one tour to the next, Mangan will be playing at London's Aeolian Hall on October 27 at 7 p.m. And though he was just recently performing on another continent, jetlag is rarely a concern for the 27-year-old songwriter who lives life on the road these days. Since his debut album, Postcards & Daydreaming was released in 2005, Mangan has performed hundreds of concerts, carrying on the stereotype of the starving artist.

"I had an album, and basically just traveled as much as possible, taking on lots of gigs," he recalled. "(But) I was really broke for a long time - always barely paying the rent."

Somehow, Mangan still managed to keep a positive attitude, an important factor, he believes, to his more recent success.

"Even though things were dim for a long while, there were always tiny little victories that helped to keep me going. It's easy to forget the thousand baby steps that added up to now, but it's important to reflect on why and how things are moving forward. Tenacity and positivity go a long way."

That tenacity resulted in 2009's Nice, Nice, Very Nice, a quaint pop-folk album filled with charm, wit and the whiskey-soaked voice of a man sounding well beyond his years. But what makes Mangan's songwriting so notable to many is his way of making songs sound casual and conversational.

The chorus of The Indie Queens Are Waiting, for instance, features a call and response dialogue between Mangan and fellow Vancouverite Veda Hille using only the words "Are we cool now?" It's simple and colloquial, but sung with such believable passion it encompasses the listener immediately.

As Mangan described his songwriting style: "I don't like things to be too literal or on-the-nose, but I do put common vernacular in my songs. Language, just like art, is constantly changing and morphing. Art mirrors culture, and vice versa - I write about people, mostly, and people use all kinds of language."

"I'm Mr. Charming without the Charming," he sings in another song, though most audiences and critics seem to think otherwise. Crowds have been growing steadily since Nice, Nice, Very Nice's unanimous praise, and the album's nomination for the Polaris Prize short-list has helped spur concertgoing crowds. Still, Mangan still sees this moment as the beginning of his career.

"Press and attention is fleeting, and you can't rest or lean on the supporters you already have - you have to continue to deliver strong material and give both long-standing and new-coming supporters a reason to be interested," he said. "Plus, it's important to have a body of work. I'd like to put out a lot of albums over the next few decades, perhaps in any number of projects and capacities. Just continuing to create all the time is huge."

So for fans of folk-pop with an indie edge or just handsome, bearded men, do yourself a favour and see Dan Mangan play at the Aeolian Hall. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 at the door.