Overview
American singer-songwriter Tom Krell (aka How to Dress Well) once described his sound as a convergence of Mariah Carey and Elliott Smith. It's that juncture of emo-acoustic and twinkly sentimental balladry that's led to Krell's music being labelled as 'lo-fi R&B'. Certainly in his older records, that came through. But with 2014 album "What is This Heart?" Krell's moving away from those early roots, towards something more musically diverse. (That said, the chorus of 'Precious Love' is decisively reminiscent of an early '00s R&B ballad, and it's great.)
Krell picked his stage name semi-randomly from the spine of an old book he bought from a used bookstore ten years ago — justifying it by pointing out that we don't generally choose our names. True. That preoccupation with the uber real is reflected in his music. His lyrics are at times so personal they're almost uncomfortable, but then he turns it all weirdly in on itself with alien synth sounds and a falsetto that's painfully otherworldly — like, as one YouTube commenter put it so aptly, the ghosts of dead R&B singers come back to sing in empty bathroom stalls.
Take this cover of Janet Jackson's 'Again'. Without a ukulele in sight, it's a refreshing antidote to the tired trend of white singers doing twee covers of the work of black musicians.
We caught up with the super well-articulated, notoriously candid Krell ahead of his appearance at Sydney Festival. Read the results here.