“Incredible, beautiful, mesmeric, fascinating…” That would have been the extent of my review of Tom Krell’s performance last night if I’d had an 11pm deadline. Thankfully though, I’m afforded the luxury of a drink or two, a good night’s sleep, a large breakfast and a lengthy cycle about this fair city of ours before I get down to it.
For those not familiar with How To Dress Well, it’s the stage name of Colorado musician Tom Krell. In 2009 following a re-location to Berlin, he began anonymously posting a series of free EPs on his blog. In the autumn of 2010 debut album Love Remains was released. Made up of a collection of songs from the previous EPs, plus some new material, it featured Krell’s beautiful falsetto, layered vocals, heavily R&B influenced beats, and plenty of reverb. The wonderful follow-up Total Loss arrived in September this year, so news of a November show in Dublin’s Twisted Pepper was greeted with elation, and a few fist pumps from yours truly.
So where to start? Well, simply put, this was the best vocal display I’ve seen since Zola Jesus’ late demolition of all my expectations at the Electric Picnic 2011. Albeit for entirely different reasons…
After a stellar opening set from Irish electronic newcomers Forrests, Krell took to the stage flanked by two musicians: a violinist, and another on keyboard/beats, which was good news. Free from musical duties, Krell was able to focus exclusively on his vocal performance. And perform he did.
His delivery was emotive, shy at times, and endearing, but also technically superb; one minute he was hunched over the microphones (yes, he had two), pouring his heart out through that gorgeous falsetto on tracks like ‘Cold Nites’ and the poignant ‘Set It Right’, the next he was three-foot back, turned sideways, barely audible, totally within himself but still impossible to take your eyes off.
Krell was needlessly apologetic about the sombre nature of the set – “We’ve only a couple more miserable ones left, then we’ll play some songs you can dance to”, he promised halfway through. Although to his amusement, one or two up the front had abandoned the customary head nod in favour of a full-on rave approach.
“Are you guys on Ecstasy?” he joked.
“Yes,” they replied.
“Like really? Cool!”
Standout moments included ‘Suicide Dream 1’ and ‘Ocean Floor For Everything’, but it was one of those gigs that hinged more on the overall feel in the room rather than the choice of songs themselves. There was a beautiful fluidity to everything, and a sense of being totally connected to a singer immersed in his songs. Magical!