Christian Lee Hutson
★★★★ Quitters ANTI-.
CD/DL/LP
LA soft-rocker’s fourth; his second with best pal Phoebe Bridgers overseeing.
Quitters’ cover image of a bath-robed figure by the edge of a swimming pool, gazing blankly at the water, hints at the stories within. Hutson spins yarns with a dizzying lexicon of wordplay and imagery, but explanations aren’t part of his deal; what to make of these lines from Age Difference: “Do my impression of John Malkovich/Critiquing food in prison/At first it isn’t funny, then it is, and then it isn’t”. They’re housed in a gorgeous, wan melody, in line with Hutson’s softly thrumming and humming sound and voice, comparable to both Elliott Smith and co-producer (with Conor Oberst) Phoebe Bridgers. In common with those influences, Hutson playfully obfuscates. “I am the New Jersey State Bird,” he declares. “A bandana on a broomstick/ You can’t fire me ’cos I quit.”