THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cory Hanson’s third solo LP Western Cum follows 2020’s luminescent Pale Horse Rider, upping the heat to molten levels, six strings at a time. In search of further adventures, Cory draws with vampiric glee from the madness coursing through the world outside; a spiralling 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 guitars through the speakers of luxury cars. Harmony leads are just the tip of the iceberg — 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 spirit-moans of Tyler Nuffer’s steel guitar.
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 rooftop 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.
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 thermostat, 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, aren’t they?”
