New York – How To Dress Well is the moniker of soloist Tom Krell, a musician whose canon of songs nestle in the realm of ambient, alternative R&B. Krell’s most recent album, however, What Is This Heart?(Weird World Records/Domino Recording Co) moves towards something operatic in structure and in sentiment. True to form, the tracks throughout swell flawlessly into mounting melodies and ebb gently into negative space.

How To Dress Well began in 2009, when Krell started producing a slew of free EPs. In 2010, Krell coupled together the best of his efforts and released a full-fledged LP, Love Remains, via Lefse. Upon release, renowned music blog Stereogum named HTDW as one of its “40 Best Bands of 2010.” That same year, Spin awarded Krell’s debut effort 8 out of 10 stars, likening the work to TLC.

On the back of the release, Krell signed to Weird World Records and in 2012 released his sophomore album, Total Loss. In the lead up to Total Loss, Krell gained yet more exposure through collaborations with a host of like-minded acts such as Active Child, Forest Swords, Shlohmo and Jacques Greene.

Krell guards his slow-tempo ballades on his latest LP – but when they do surface,  they blossom in intricate, sonically explosive and ultimately unexpected avenues. Each track begins with an acoustic, minimalist foundation and steadily evolves into definitive hip-hop architectures. The album hits unexpected climactic peaks, fired by Krell’s show-stopping, voluminous vocals.

Thematically and tonally, a tangible darkness pervades this album, and the three-part music video project released in conjunction with WITH mirrors this gloom. Spinning a narrative that melds together love and loss, Krell does not shy away from the most devastating elements of life.

Tracks like “Face Again,” “See You Fall” and “What You Wanted” drag a listener down to unforeseen depths. In this slow moving, bottomless-blue space, we recognize an art form fit to soundtrack both the distracted afternoon and the unaffected fall of nighttime. These are tracks that pass most gently, tread most evenly, and lend a calm, if sad, serenity to the album as a whole.

Masterfully, Krell peppers WITH with a handful of sparkly tracks that escalate the work to sunnier vistas, which allows the record to paint a prismatic tableau of the human condition. Songs like “Repeat Pleasure” and “Childhood Faith in Love (Everything Must Change, Everything Must Stay the Same)” celebrate the best bits of being human, and these songs contribute an uplifting and inspired mysticism that turns the bleaker parts of the album on its head. Similarly, “Words I Don’t Remember” builds from a haunting starting line and, at its own unique pace, ultimately arrives a heart-thumping, breathless finish line. These tracks end up feeling like a happy respite perfect for their summer release.

If the dichotomy between light and dark tracks sounds familiar, it is because its strikingly similar to the work of a lot of contemporary indie R&B artists. Risking imitation, the tracks on WITH recall the best of The Weeknd’s work, minus the over sexualized emotional response.

Of course, the sentiments that straddle physicality and emotional attachment to friends and lovers have existed for eons. But WITH confronts much more than that, exploring loss, familial ties and resilience with unapologetic intensity. This record is successful precisely because it surveys all the sentiments a heart could hold, and does so with a sense of sincerity most contemporary indie R&B acts sorely lack.

How To Dress Well is currently touring in support of his latest, and a chance to see Krell live promises to be moving. Check out his tour dates here. With a show scheduled practically everyday between now and September 27th, there are plenty of opportunities to catch the act live.

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Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.

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