It’s been five years since How To Dress Well has released new music when then his new record was The Anteroom. But ahead of the May 10, 2024 release of the new album I Am Toward on Sargent House, Tom Krell aka How To Dress Well offers the single “New Confusion.” It has the hallmarks of what has made the project so fascinating and compelling with highly detailed, almost maximalist synth compositions in a pop format, otherworldly yet expressive and intimate vocals and lyrics that take pop song conceits and takes them in a thoughtful directions. The song unfolds in mini-chapters with shifting dynamics that build organically with tonal shimmers and ethereal melodies as Krell tells the story of someone who has been so hurt in love that he feels like it’s time to disconnect from the feeling entirely and burying the impulse to love where it manifests as realizations that “Hell is where no one has anything in common with anyone else” and as the song of “A small wet bird from deep inside my shoe.” As the song progresses our narrator recognizes this bird as the dormant capacity to love to which he never had to say goodbye. But Krell doesn’t offer an easy and sunny return to normal human functioning and by the end of the song the pain needs to be acknowledged and processed before the bird as the symbol of love can fully take flight. Listen to “New Confusion” on Spotify and follow How To Dress Well at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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