Video: Christian Lee Hutson – “Lose This Number”

Directed by Zoe Donahoe and Adam Sputh. From Beginners, due May 29 on Anti.

Wow. So Christian Lee Hutson’s “Northsiders” blew my mind when I first heard it last year. It’s one of those rare songs that feels as if it’s been written directly for you. Like, dude, were you reading my journals from college?

That single appeared as a one-off, but a year later it looks like he has been picked up by Anti- Records, who will be releasing his debut album in May. Beginners was produced by Phoebe Bridgers.

Unlike “Northsiders,” the new single is not specifically about my teenage life, but it’s still haunting and very real. “I think ‘Lose This Number’ is about someone fixating on the past, wishing they could go back and change things,” says Hutson.

Bobby helped me track you down cause
I just saw your name in the paper
You said, “Of course that reminded you of me
Don’t you know that’s how a name works?”

That’s funny. But it gets more serious immediately.

I know you don’t have to forgive me
Hell, you probably shouldn’t
I got scared and I took off
I wanted to try but I couldn’t

Hutson’s gift is the ability to disguise poetic heaviness in conversational lyrics and straightforward, unembellished delivery. I can’t wait to hear the rest of his album.

Christian Lee Hutson: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.