Album Review: Beginners, Christian Lee Hutson (Anti Records) 

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Christian Lee Hutson hails from Los Angeles and maintains a low profile. He’s collaborated with Phoebe Bridger on her well received Folk Americana albums of recent times. She plays some keyboards and piano on Beginners. And he sounds like Paul Simon, especially on the opening track, Atheist. But that’s all I really know about him.

Quiet and subdued, with picked acoustic guitar accompanying. He is thirty, but he is not taking about himself when he sings, I don’t remember getting older but I’m slowing down.

He writes vignettes on people’s lives. They sound like friends, some family, good and bad things that have happened. Classic Folk music topics then, but melodic and with flourishes of colour instrumentally as we listen on.

On Talk, he admonishes parents who constantly let their children down but doesn’t excuse himself. I’m just a chip of the old block, I’m all talk. Beautiful soft clear voice, snare drum added and some quiet violins.

Nicely produced album with lots of breathing space to showcase the lyrics and melodic voice.

Get the Old Band Back Together is a change. Same vocals but with a fuller band sound. Prominent drums, quiet keyboards and harmonica. Helping out on this one is Conor Oberst, Meg Duffy and Lucy Dacus. That’s pretty good, he says at the end.

Keep You Down, a scathing song about a difficult fickle relationship. There is a shift in the vocal dynamics as he climbs up to the higher register.

Northsiders almost achieves the feat of combining Brett Easton Ellis novels. Starts off at a new school, meets some Goths, smokes pot and takes cocaine. Says he’s addicted like young teens like to fantasize. Goes to college, ends up working at a Smoothie shop. One of the old gang smashes his car into a tree. I hope it was a quick death.

The surface may be pretty and soothing music but these quiet songs reveal well-crafted lyrics which carry emotional and moral weight. In a literary way.

Take Unforgiveable. As scathing as one of those Dylan songs of the sixties. He had a partner; it ran its course for him. I just hate that you need me. Can’t fucking do it anymore. The song could be a mirror too.

On Twin Soul the song seems to be about starting a relationship. But he is in band that may not last. “I’m gonna hurt you and myself too.” It may be more about the duality of personality and fame. The song starts quietly with acoustic guitar again, then adds chiming keyboards and some nice soul horns as it progresses.   

There are two other albums on smaller labels: this could be regarded as his bigger label debut.

Stories with a literary bent, wrapped in a melodic and pretty package. Still waters run deep.

Rev Orange Peel

Rev Orange Peel
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