Rating:
Chock full of stone cold pop hits.
Tom Krell’s musical career as How To Dress Well has seen him move from dark and oblique soundscapes on ‘Love Remains’ to the gleaming progressive pop of 2013’s ‘What Is This Heart?’ It’s been quite a journey from experimental enigma to alt pop icon that has culminated in ‘Care’ the definitive How To Dress Well album and one that is chock full of stone cold pop hits.
This is the album that sees Krell completely giving himself up to the music and making something transcendent and celebratory. It scotches any sort of pre-conceived notion that he is a bleak miserabilist. You can hear it straight away in the irresistible pop jam of ‘Can’t You Tell’ and the gleaming, glistening euphoria of ‘Anxiety’. These are songs of triumph and glory. Songs that make you want to embrace loved ones and express your desires without fear.
While the general feeling is one of big pop hooks, there is still an intimacy that characterises all of Krell’s work. Here though, he has taken that intimate approach and magnified it through the prism of massive sounds and stadium ready hooks. The writing is more refined and lucid than before and Krell’s instantly recognisable voice is as wondrous as ever.
The communal feeling of ‘Care’ partly comes from how it was created with Krell working with a number of different producers including Jack Antonoff and esteemed dancehall producers Dre-Skull and CFCF. Along with Kara-Lis Coverdale, this diverse cast has helped Krell make his most focused and direct album.
‘Care’ is an album that deals in the most basic and fundamental human emotions and amplifies them into a progressive and exciting pop record from and artist unwilling to spend any more time in the margins instead revelling in joy and elation. Martyn Young
