"Monster" by Christian Lee Hutson - An American Tragedy

Monster the final track from Christian Lee Hutson's latest album "Yeah Okay, I know" feels like an American tragedy. It's breathtakingly sad tone and depressive underbelly is part melodrama and part so crushingly real that it made me want to wrap myself up in a warm blanket and coddle myself in a fetal position on the couch. I have a thing for sadly moving music and Monster is just that times 2 and that oddly enough makes me happy.

The production, some nuanced and some quite dynamic is artfully done and bolsters the emotional impact. At the onset, Christian's vocals veer off center and sound canned a bit. The effect is detached as if the recording is old or the emotionally muted words are from a distant (past) phone call. When the tone shifts effortlessly to his crystal clear voice it feels so goddamn intimate. Enter the evocative vocals of Lizzie Eggert on the second verse (and chorus) and the song shifts to a dysfunctional relationship, of two "monsters" sharing their bed so to speak. As this intimate, tortured song erupts into full blown dramatics (or hysteria) it only sounds more beautifully sad. A truly lovely, unique and, yes, sad introduction to Hutson's work. Now that I have heard this stirring piece of work I look forward to hearing the rest of the album.
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Robb Donker