I Love People

Both within and without his psych-rock outfit Wand, Cory Hanson has been on a lifelong quest to find harmony and ecstasy in a turbulent world that so often denies it. On his 2023 album, *Western Cum*, he sought it through epic high-voltage guitar odysseys, but on *I Love People*, the LA maverick lays off the six-string heroics and immerses himself in a soft-focus fantasia of Laurel Canyon gold sounds. With standout serenades like “Bird on a Swing,” “I Don’t Believe You,” and “On the Rocks,” Hanson resembles a rhinestone Rundgren, casting his pristine pop melodies in a countrypolitan patina, while solitary ballads like “Old Policeman” see him ease into the role of a last-call saloon troubadour vying for a spot on the Asylum Records roster circa 1973. But even when working in more formal classic-rock modes, Hanson’s idiosyncratic spirit still cuts through: the elegiac piano hymn “Lou Reed” pays tribute to the Velvet Underground trailblazer; however, Hanson seems less interested in romanticizing his musical innovations than his tai chi skills.

Pairing Laurel Canyon splendor with a surreal perspective, the Wand frontman’s latest solo album offers wry portraits of the strange characters and bleak situations that populate modern life.