SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HOW TO DRESS WELL – I AM TOWARD YOU

HOW TO DRESS WELL
I AM TOWARD YOU
SARGENT HOUSE

Six years after the release of his last album The Anteroom, Tom Krell, known by his stage name How To Dress Well, has released his sixth album I Am Toward You. This 11-track project features a variety of collaborators such as CFCF, Chris Votek, Joel Ford, Josh Clancy, Trayer Tryon, Brian Allen Simon (Anenon), and Aaron Charles Read. An experiment in shoegaze and electronic psychdelia, and strongly informed by Krell’s background in philosophy, this album is heavy on distortion, delays, feedback, and echo.

No two tracks on this album are alike, they all have their own distinctive sound, unbound with no restrictions, the flow of the tracks seems to lead itself; the album itself feels like a thought process. Songs like “No Light” and “On It And Around It” lean more towards a modern indie-pop shoegaze sound, and tracks like “Crypt Sustain” bring a heavier rock element to the table. The hauntingly beautiful “The Only True Joy On Earth” takes on an almost holy approach with vocals akin to those of a psalm or a hymn. Although the tracks differ greatly in terms of genre, tempo, or instruments used, they are all stitched into cohesion by electronic production elements and a familiar hum of noise.

Several of the singles on the album were released alongside visualizer videos featuring short, repeated animations of abstract art that, much like the music that accompanies them, are experimental in nature. “Crypt Sustain” was released with a music video which features seemingly random video clips and images laid over each other with a heavy use of video effects. This video is a great visual representation of the experience of listening to this album.

Although for devoted fans this album has been a long time coming, I think the final result speaks for itself. Hopefully looking to the future How To Dress Well will continue this exploration to give us some more great music, but for the minute I Am Toward You is more than enough to keep everyone going!

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