Cory Hanson - I Love People (2025)

Impishly impossible to pin down, Cory Hanson's music changes shape with almost every new thing he creates. As the central creative presence in Wand, Hanson has led the group through various styles of wild and ragged psychedelia, but his solo albums have been a different story every time. Happening in parallel with Wand's output, Hanson's solo work has taken the form of tense Americana, narrative indie rock, and with 2023's Western Cum, a merging of Wand's layered conceptual psych and rootsier workingman rock influences. His fourth solo album I Love People takes yet another dramatic and disorienting turn, eschewing overt psychedelia and embracing the influence of bright, highly polished 1970s singer/songwriter and soft rock fare. The most psychedelic aspect of I Love People is how someone best known for making weird music has crafted something so straightforward. The ringing acoustic guitars and easygoing melodies of "Bird on a Swing" have the crisp-yet-mellow character of a Jackson Browne hit, and the crystal clear horn arrangements and pristine instrumentation of "Joker" call to mind Court and Spark era Joni Mitchell. Even more mystifyingly, the songs aren't being played by a host of storied session musicians, but by Hanson's Wand bandmates, down to the complex string charts and production that would land these tunes on the top of the charts circa 1976. It's a beautiful work of songcraft, with attention to small details like the glimmering choir vocals that begin "Final Frontier" or the unruly noise guitar that interrupts the otherwise prim and proper adult contemporary piano rock of "Bad Miracles." Hanson delivers all of this with a knowing wink and a mischievous grin. I Love People shares some common ground with Father John Misty's most accessible work, marrying Harry Nilsson-level songwriting excellence with the occasional subversive lyric or upsetting concept that demands deeper thought from listeners who are actually paying attention. "Lou Reed" is perhaps the best song here, and a perfect example of Hanson's mission statement on this album. Over an instrumental that's crushingly beautiful in both its softness and its sadness, Hanson sings of his romanticized relationship with New York City, and also his admiration of the late rock and roll legend and Velvet Underground founder. "You were a prince and a fighter, and you were a Tai Chi master," Hanson sings without a hint of sarcasm, though in lesser hands the song could run the risk of feeling pretentious, ironic, or even disrespectful. Hanson seems to sincerely love the sounds he's approaching throughout I Love People, and does the gentle chamber folk style justice even when he's toying with its parameters a bit. Like so much of Hanson's music, these songs come on strong from one direction, while hiding deeper peculiarities and weirdnesses below the surface.

TRACKLIST

1. Cory Hanson - Bird on a Swing
2. Cory Hanson - Joker
3. Cory Hanson - I Love People
4. Cory Hanson - I Don't Believe You
5. Cory Hanson - Santa Claus is Coming Back to Town
6. Cory Hanson - Lou Reed
7. Cory Hanson - Final Frontier
8. Cory Hanson - Texas Weather
9. Cory Hanson - Bad Miracles
10. Cory Hanson - Old Policeman
11. Cory Hanson - On the Rocks