Mac
Hanson
Fronting Joshua & The Holy Rollers made him a powerhouse. Marriage and fatherhood made him an artist with something to say.
This debut LP is that something.
Born into music whether he wanted it or not, Mac Hanson spent years resisting the family trade before giving in, on his own terms, in his own voice. After years leading his outfit Joshua & The Holy Rollers through touring, three EPs, and a Billboard debut, he then got married, became a father, and started writing the songs that actually needed writing. Saying goodbye to his old moniker, the gauzy filter of lusty rock and roll gave way to something deeper.
This record lives in that territory: the rupture and repair of real relationships, the resentments that survive your best intentions, the specific hell of being self-aware and human anyway. A warm record filled with laconic daydreams and raucous bops, it leans into Hanson’s penchant for harmony and the delicate balance between tearjerker and heavy hitter. At its best it sounds like someone talking to you from the other side of a long night. Funny about it, honest about it, still recovering from it.
press
press
With his soulful, gritty voice and smooth rocker vibes, there are few clues that the cigarette-smoking, long-haired crooner [is the] younger sibling of the brother trio that made up late-’90s pop-rock powerhouse, Hanson
It’s this new music that clinched the fact that a name change was necessary. Much of it is about fatherhood, and heads in a new direction than that of the distorted guitars the Holy Rollers name might connote
Aside from the clear notion that Hanson possesses natural powerhouse vocals, the EP highlights the different ranges of Hanson and the band. Even the most upbeat and momentous licks are rooted with a bit of grief, shining throughout Hanson’s croon.
Frontman Mac Hanson howls out the top line with a gritty surrender that is liberating. Backed by his Holy Rollers, the chorus is a massive sing along akin to the Beatles in their grunge rock phase.
