How To Dress Well - Land of the Overflowing Urn

How To Dress Well is the longtime Alternative R&B project of singer Tom Krell.  Now, at first, I had my issues with Tom's work, mostly around his 2010 debut "Love Remains".  Tom showed here that he had the vocal chops to succeed in this genre here, and as far as production goes he had some pretty wild ideas.  This was a very stripped down, hazy and Low-Fi project.  And sure, that lead to some very "in the moment", interesting songs like "Can't See My Own Face" and " Walking This Dumb".  But the majority of this album was just a hazy mix of bizarre and genuinely interesting concepts, with most of the time the beats and production overshadowing everything.  But there were a few moments on here, like "Endless Rain" where Tom broke through all of that and gave us something to be really excited about in the future.  However, I was infinitely more into Tom's 2012 project "Total Loss".  Here, Tom ditched the whole Low-Fi vibe and went for a much more modern approach to R&B and Soul, complete with glistening production and eerie beats.  Not to mention, with this much more shiny production it just became so apparent how awesome of a singer Tom was.  Tracks like "Say My Name or Say Whatever" or "Struggle" were incredibly memorable tunes, and I felt like every time I listened to this album I found something else to immerse myself in.  Tom returned in 2014 with "What Is This Heart?".  Now, this album ditched the very icy synths and desolate sounds of "Total Loss", for Tom's most organic and down to earth material yet.  Tracks like "Face Again" as well as others kept things fresh with some really interesting production.  But it was immense ballads like "Words I Don't Remember" and "Repeat Pleasure" that made this one an absolute joy to listen to.  But when Tom returned in 2016 with "Care", I was really thrown for a loop.  This album is ridiculously safe, and not nearly as adventurous or interesting as his material up to this point.  Tom here sounded fine vocally, and tracks like "Salt Song" are totally viable tracks.  But this album as a whole is hilarious Pop-oriented, and not in a good way.  Tom's back, with a short and sweet EP.  I mean, technically it's one song, but let's chat folks. 


Now, like I said, this EP has one nice long track, "Vacant Boat (shred) | Nonkilling 1 | The Anteroom | False Skull 1”.  Actually, there's also a short version of "The Anteroom", but that's just extra.  So for this long track, right off the bat, this is actually a pretty abrasive start.  I mean, that’s all brought down nicely by Tom’s beautiful vocals.  But the production here is genuinely freakish and reminds me of some of his truly great albums.  It’s good to hear Tom working with such a genuinely experimental sound though.  And I have to say as far as his vocals go, he sounds just fine.  But this first movement is a little slow.  This second movement, “Nonkilling 1”, this is genuinely cool.  I love the very icy beat and Tom’s very distant sounding vocals.  Like, this is seriously freaky and weird.  And honestly, it’s really well written, and just a great sound for Tom.  The vocals are soaring, the very glitchy production keeps you guessing and really demands active listening.  I’m glad this movement really takes its time. Then we get “The Anteroom”, which shows off some even glitchier and even more bizarre production, I would love to hear Tom keep expanding his sound like this. Not to mention, I love just how lonely and desolate this all ends up coming off.  And in the last two minutes, my goodness some of these beats and blasts of production are genuinely terrifying and aggressive. Hell, it even as this really euphoric release at the end that sounds incredible.  My thoughts are, that this is a pretty great sound for Tom, and shows him pushing himself further than he ever has.  If he continued down this route he could very easily bounce back. 


Now, for one long track, I'm not gonna rate this or anything.  You know my final thoughts, if you're a fan of Tom's discography give this a listen, it's genuinely interesting, and so much better than anything off of "Care".