Those familiar with musician How To Dress Well know that his music tends to be very intimate - the perfect soundtrack for a melancholy bedtime diary session or a solitary walk through city streets late at night. One might wonder how well this atmosphere would transfer over to a live show: will that intimacy be lost among a crowd of people? Yet last Thursday night at T.T. the Bear's Place in Cambridge, How To Dress Well captured that aura perfectly, adding a number of new dance-influenced songs to his repertoire. The artist demonstrated he is capable of more than just somber ballads.
How To Dress Well is the stage name of 30-year-old Tom Krell, a Chicago native who has been making ethereal R&B songs since 2009. Krell has released two full-length albums and one EP - he plans to debut another project sometime this year. His tracks highlight his impressive falsetto and the minimal yet reverb-drenched instrumentation that serves as a background for his angelic voice.
Krell opened his set by telling the audience that he was going to start off with a sad piece, in order to set the vibes right." Although the first song he played was indeed a slow, mournful number, the rest of the show wasn't as gloomy as he might have anticipated. Filled with moments of euphoria and a surprising amount of upbeat percussion, Krell's set was uplifting. There were the usual moments of sorrow (How To Dress Well is known for his focus on grief), but they were infrequent, serving as necessary instants of darkness that contrasted nicely with happier sections of the show. It seemed as if the despondency that defined his first two albums had ended
