Pale Horse Rider Explained

Pale Horse Rider
Type:studio
Artist:Cory Hanson
Cover:Cory Hanson - Pale Horse Rider.jpg
Alt:A photo of a man standing inside the doorway to a bungalow with a thick border of crumpled golden foil around it
Recorded:December 2019 (Cactopia), January 2020 (Pine Room)
Studio:
Label:Drag City
Prev Title:The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo
Prev Year:2016
Next Title:Western Cum
Next Year:2023

Pale Horse Rider is the second studio album by American psychedelic rock musician Cory Hanson, released by Drag City on April 16, 2021. It has received positive reviews from critics.

Reception

Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Fred Thomas writing the music is "lonely, lamenting, and distant but beautifully warm, marrying Hanson's love of psychedelic experimentation with a more cosmic take on country". Stuart Berman of Pitchfork Media gave this release a 7.5 out of 10, for combining Americana and chamber pop with an "uncanny vibe" "heightened by Hanson’s lyrics, which blur the line between fact and fable". In Record Collector, Kevin Harley scored this album 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "the equivalent of an open-skied breather" that "tread[s] cosmic country terrain with a cogent confidence in restraint and controlled reserves of psychedelic colour". In The Sydney Morning Herald, Barnaby Smith gave this album 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling this a "textured and complex affair, combining folk-based foundations with synthesisers, soundscapes, guitar effects and even field recordings". Editors at Uncut chose this as Album of the Month, giving it an 8 out of 10, with critic Peter Watts praising the full band orchestration, calling it stronger than Hanson's 2016 effort The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo and stating that this is an "impressive record" for having the confidence to experiment.

Track listing

All songs written by Cory Hanson.

  1. "Paper Fog" – 4:30
  2. "Angeles" – 5:02
  3. "Pale Horse Rider" – 4:06
  4. "Necklace" – 1:48
  5. "Bird of Paradise" – 3:26
  6. "Limited Hangout" – 3:30
  7. "Vegas Knights" – 2:19
  8. "Surface to Air" – 1:11
  9. "Another Story from the Center of the Earth" – 7:54
  10. "Pigs" – 5:09

Personnel

See also