Cory Hanson: Western Cum (Drag City)

Wand co-founder Cory Hanson has been involved in so many bands and solo projects, it's a wonder he has time to sleep. On this, the hardworking psych-rock dude's third solo album under his own name, he meshes country-rock melancholy, Marquee Moon guitar motifs and the occasional sonic left-turn to intermittently beguiling effect.

There are a couple of cracking tunes here: Housefly sets Hanson's airily melodic vocals against mid-70s Zuma-esque Neil Young riffs, while also giving great jangle. The Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny de Vito-referencing Twins is a vision of pedal-steel assisted loveliness, a graceful melding of early Wilco and Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds.

Fans of duelling twin guitars will be in hog's heaven here: proggy, spiralling riffage is everywhere and it sounds ace. However, this is generally a record of great textures, rather than great tunes. Opener Wings shows Hanson's ability to meld soaring powerpop melodies and rockin' riffage with a soupcon of prog. Persuasion Architecture is the album's oddity, an odd cut 'n' shut job that veers schizophrenically between prog hardcore and lovelorn mellowness. Horsemeat Sabotage adds some Southern rock to the mix, while the spooky lope of Ghost Ship portrays imminent doom for a drug mule who finds himself, literally, all at sea.

At eight tracks and under 40 minutes long, Western Cum (still not sure about that title!) is structured like an old-skool vinyl LP. The one anomaly is the largely instrumental guitar pile-on Driving Through Heaven, which doesn't really do enough to justify its ten minutes-plus run time... more Love Spreads than Kasmir, so to speak. Motion Sickness concludes matters in laidback, melancholy mode.

Every track has its moments and the vocals and guitars sound ace throughout. While it feels slightly padded out, the production makes it a very pleasurable listen. 3/5