Cory Hanson
Western Cum
DRAG CITY
Channeling ’70s rock acts like The Edgar Winter Group, Cory Hanson’s third solo album Western Cum is a rich tapestry of experimental country rock on a wild tightrope act balancing harmony and distortion. Only tepidly following his steps from 2020’s Pale Horse Rider, a low-key affair that wavers between indie rock and folk, Western Cum is an expansion into new sonic territory, foregoing most of its predecessor’s style. Though it doesn’t always stick its landing smoothly, the Wand frontman creates a compelling ride.
On this latest release, Hanson invites the heartfelt, the absurd, and the electric guitar into his surreal, carnivalesque Western world. Shreddy, metallic-tasting riffs are back in style like 2000s-era Deftones band t-shirts—this album is Cory Hanson’s Metal Machine Music meets Harvest-era Neil Young, after all. To be more clear, though, it takes a much lighter approach to Lou Reed’s drone LP, as Hanson only plays around with guitar noise briefly on tracks like “Persuasion Architecture.” Still, he dives into unexplored desert landscapes of genre and style previously unexamined by Wand or Hanson’s prior solo work.
And this isn’t purely a shredder album: “Ghost Ship,” which dons a mellifluous lick reminiscent of Young’s “Old Man,” has a mid-tempo throwback sound perfect for any road trip playlist. Meanwhile, “Motion Sickness”—unrelated to Phoebe Bridgers’s hit (sorry, boygenius stans)—eases on the distortion pedal to deliver a laidback number containing its own sweet, toasty solo. In fact, Hanson can’t seem to help but squeeze a solo or two into most of his tracks, and though it may be seen as compulsive if not self-indulgent, it’s still a nice change of pace that keeps the album on its guitar-centric theme.
If you’re a Wand fan looking for another neo-psych odyssey, you’re not finding it here. You might hear glimpses of that band, but they’re only brief mirages. This record is singularly a Cory Hanson guitar record—and a good one at that.
