How To Dress Well - Total Loss Review

Total Loss is a fantastic album and much more accessible than anything How To Dress Well have done before, and should rightfully garner him a wider audience.

rating: 4

Total Loss is a much less insular listening experience than How To Dress Well€™s (alias of singer/producer Tom Krell) debut, Love Remains, and most of the reverb and lo-fi production is cleaned away: it all sounds very clear but mostly manages to retain the intimate bed-sit solitude of Krell's debut. Opener 'When I Was in Trouble's' opening piano refrain is dolefully buoyed up by the surging and distant churn of thunderclouds. €˜Cold Nites€™ icy piano notes sound like their coming straight from Dracula's castle, with a warped bass-line that wanders out ominously beneath an infantilised vocal sample. €˜Say My Name Or Say Whatever's€™ vice-tight melody is Four Tet circa Rounds with most of the serotonin washed out, but the child-like choral whisper at the end of the song is truly angelic and tinged with the kind of warm-hearted feeling you get from a carol song. €˜Running Back€™ is classic 90's r'n'b finger clicking backed by Krell's ear-worm cadence and near-lost in the mix shoe-gaze humming. Imagine if Boyz II Men sound-tracked one of your dreams and you€™ve got the feeling of it sussed. One of the album€™s few weak points is €˜& It Was U€™, not because it€™s a bad song per se, it€™s just not very unique and sounds like an offcut from a Jamie Lidell record. However, I do very much like the shoe-clomp percussion that begins half-way through its run-time. Mid-album instrumental €˜World I Need You, Won€™t Be Without You€™ is hair-raising, soaring Sigur Rósatmospherics grounded by meaty string plucking. It sounds like nothing from Krell€™s debut and is probably the most openly optimistic piece of music he€™s ever released. €˜How Many?€™ has an immersive production style wherein it sounds like all the beats have been submerged deep underwater, reminding me a little of Balam Acab€™s Wander/Wonder. We go back to the Sigur Rós influence with €˜Talking to You€™ and its cinematic orchestration, but once again Krell€™s voice sounds like it€™s lost down a well or underwater giving the song an excellent push-pull between the close intimacy to his voice and the epic orchestral narration to his whispered tribulations. Krell€™s lyrics reach their direct-punch emotional apex with penultimate track €˜Set It Right€™, wherein he sings to his loved ones over Clams Casino-esque syllable-stretched vocal proclamations. The narcotic vibe continues into the final song, €˜Ocean Floor For Everything€™ with its ambient Balam Acab harp-like string pulling. Total Loss is a fantastic album, and though it shares much of its sound palette with other contemporary producers, it still separates itself from the pack with Krell€™s extraordinary voice and a sharp eye for detail. It is also much more accessible than anything he€™s done before, and should rightfully garner him a wider audience.
Contributor

Darren Millard is an aspiring journalist and music devotee. Needs someone to help him understand Ableton. Also, life.