Charlie Martin has been making warm and subtly hooky music as one-half of Hovvdy for the better part of the last decade. Today, he’s releasing his debut solo album, Imaginary People, which was recorded over the past year as Hovvdy worked on finishing up their follow-up to 2019’s excellent Heavy Lifter. It sounds like a natural extension of the all-encompassing environment that his main band tends to evoke, but there’s a bit more narrative weight here as Martin uses each song to sketch out a different character that adds up to an album that’s populated by people that are trying to do their best.

“I’ve always found it therapeutic to weave fictional characters into songs, folding them into my own real or imaginary experiences,” Martin said in a statement. “Usually, the character is someone I can help, or maybe they can help me — someone I empathize with and can learn from. I want people to hear the songs and feel comforted or lifted up. That’s always my goal.”

Listen to all of Imaginary People below.

Here’s a music video for “September”:

Imaginary People is out now via Grand Jury.