I love people. That is an arresting title which builds up questions about its intent. (Read our interview with Cory for the answer – INTERVIEW – CORY HANSON : Silent Radio!) Cynics could read a level of irony into it, an interpretation that could be strengthened by considering the characters portrayed in the album’s eleven songs. It would be hard to feel unadulterated affection for them but there is a warmth to it which suggests an unwillingness to leap to judgement. With his fourth solo album, in addition to intrigue, what Cory Hanson has created is a musically rich concoction. The clarity of the songs and ease in Hanson’s voice recall 1970s singer-songwriters laced with a country rock tinge. As such, it has more in common with the country narratives of his second long player ‘Pale Horse Rider’, albeit with far more sumptuous arrangements, than the heavier guitar leanings of its follow-up, ‘Western Cum’. It is a world away from his band, Wand, even though it features the same line-up that recorded their latest album, ‘Vertigo’.
Opener ‘Bird on a Swing’ impressively sets the musical template. It lands in the 70s with its mid-tempo blend of guitar, piano and vocal harmonies but its narrator is clearly troubled from its opening salvo (“I can count on my friends / like I count all my debts / on the middle finger of my right hand”), a violin adds to the mood as he goes on to admit to being “a troubled bitter soul / I’ve got sadness in my skull.” The especially impressive opening trio continues with ‘Joker’ which has a similar melodic clarity, its strummed guitar and sax combining like a refreshing breeze on a summer day but its story indicates trouble is simmering with windows broken, punches thrown and legs bitten, suggesting that humour and humiliation can be two sides of the same coin.
The title track comes third, its assertion repeated in each line, although on one occasion followed by the acknowledgement, “I know they’re animals at heart.” The song’s musical punctuation is provided by repeated trombone lines while also being given a swing by saxophone. Its fake ending is followed by a ripple of applause and a brief piano flourish before coming to its permanent conclusion. The lushly orchestrated ballad ‘I Don’t Believe You’ is a tale of a protagonist burying their head in the sand – news of a wolf at the door, gods going mad and Gabriel calling their name are all dismissed. The combination makes the song simultaneously sweet and heartbreaking.
With its sombre piano and orchestration, the unseasonal ‘Santa Claus Just Got Back in Town’ is the polar opposite of the good cheer exuded in ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. Instead, our hero has just returned from Afghanistan and is “lonely as a stranger / or a Catholic in hell.” ‘Lou Reed’ continues the piano and orchestration mix, though feeling less bleak. There is a lovely introduction of sax that coincides with the song’s reference to saxophones in the street. Its tribute to the Velvet Underground frontman concludes by zoning in on unexpected traits (“you were a prince and a fighter / and you were a tai chi master.”)
Gently picked guitar and eery backing vocals lend ‘Final Frontier’ the air of a western movie soundtrack to accompany a dark ending. Lines like “cut my tongue out and nail it to my ass” are met with the addition of melancholy strings, combining to imply that freedom and lawlessness have a macabre side. Violin and guitar give ‘Texas Weather’ a country rock air although its musical topography of breezing along open roads with the car hood up contrasts with the reference to cold blooded murder.
‘Bad Miracles’ is ruled by fear of terrible accidents lurking around the corner but musically is a clear blue sky of mid-tempo piano until a guitar solo bursts out; it is the one moment that would have fitted on ‘Western Cum’. Piano and orchestration create an exquisite backdrop to ‘Old Policeman’, a sympathetic rendering of a character who is barely holding on but that empathy is dissipated with the closing lines about him finding someone on Pornhub who is barely 18. Pedal steel adds to the concluding ‘On The Rocks’, another knotty number that sees the narrator drinking with the Klu Klux Klan and admits his “moral compass is spinning like a snake in a tyre.”
It completes an album that binds musical excellence with troubling character portraits. It is Hanson’s best since his startling solo debut ‘The Unborn Capitalist From Limbo’ and his finest display of songwriting thus far.
Cory Hanson: I Love People – Out 25 July 2025 (Drag City)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
