Cory Hanson's third solo LP follows
upon 2020's luminescent Pale Horse
Rider, upping the heat to molten lev-
els, six strings at a time. In search
of further adventures, Cory draws
with vampiric glee from the madness
coursing through the world outside; a
spiraling shitshow that's reawakened
a compulsion in him-an old ambition,
even!-to crush brutality and elegance
together into a fresh set of rocks to
hail down upon us.
Western Cum is a high-stepping,
hard-dancing, first love/heartbreak,
tonight's-the-night, future nostalgia
kind of good time-the sound of gui-
tars through the speakers of luxury
cars. Like the dream you had once,
alone, asleep in an amplifier, blasting
Guns N' Roses through every last
orifice in your body. And it's coming
through!
It's another side of midnight some-
where; high o'clock too, and the dark,
cactaceaen fantasias of the previ-
ous incarnation have hardened and
dried in Cory's pre-apocalyptic gar-
den of choice, a sun-blinded plain of
sedimentary rock. Down the high-
way, beyond the horizon, through
the looking glass, etc-he's fixed for
rough times ahead, a gunslinger/anti-
hero of legend/infamy, back in town
with axe blazing and a rhythm trio
dubbed "Slowhand" walking up the
crazy horse he rode in on. You ready
to boogie?
Western Cum's map to the trea-
sure is less about pastiche, though;
more toward executing the songs by
executioner's axe, rolling their decap-
itated rhythm heads and soaring mel-
odies, the panoply of Cory's melodic
impulses with guitars, guitars, guitars.
Harmony leads are just the tip of the
iceberg, but be quick - the guitars
like to melt everything in their path!
The eight songs of Western Cum are
driven by the stalwart bass of brother
Casey Hanson and the drums of Evan
Backer with a few passing acoustics
from Cory and the intermittent spir-
it-moans of Tyler Nuffer's steel gui-
tar. The quartet sound-two guitars,
bass and drums-acts as beat-making
principle/phrasing device, as well as
template for Cory's layers of six-string
and vocal textures. From the roof-
top of their musical safe house-the
band in their makeshift hut and Cory
ensconced in an outhouse-they let
loose with a blast both face-melting
and mind-blowing: a social service
that gives constipation a good name.
With Western Cum, this debauched
and shameless world is redeemed in
the same breath as it is repudiated. A
massing of voices and guitars form an
almost post-gospel harmony, bright
and burgeoning, engorging the ther-
mostat, prising the pressure from your
chest before the final wink-out. Maybe
it's a mirage...but those things are just
another part of reality, ain't they?