How to Dress Well

Krell was born in Boulder, Colorado.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefader.com/2012/09/18/how-to-dress-well-loss-leader|title=How to Dress Well: Loss Leader|website=The Fader|access-date=October 8, 2016}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/14/how-to-dress-well-tom-krell|title=How To Dress Well: 'I was working through shock, anger, misery and pain'|first=Nick|last=Levine|date=September 14, 2012|newspaper=The Guardian}}

Beginning in 2009, he began to turn out free EPs on his blog, under the name How to Dress Well.{{cite web |url=http://howtodresswell.blogspot.com/2009/ |title=2009 archive |last=Krell |first=Tom |date=2009 |website=How to Dress Well blog |access-date=March 17, 2014}} He published six EPs in six months. He didn't release his name or his photo, but critics quickly picked up on Krell's music and brought him out of the shadows.{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/how-to-dress-well-tom-krell-pitchfork/Content?oid=2559706 |title=Plagued by Pitchfork |last=Raymer |first=Miles |date=2010 |website=Reader}}

How to Dress Well's debut album, Love Remains, was released in 2010 on Lefse in the United States and on Tri Angle in Europe and Asia.{{cite web |url=http://store.lefserecords.com/collections/all/how-to-dress-well |title=Catalog – tagged "How To Dress Well" – Lefse Records |website=Store.lefserecords.com |access-date=February 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303125432/http://store.lefserecords.com/collections/all/how-to-dress-well |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }} The album assembled the best of Krell's early EPs and garnered critical acclaim. It received a score of 8.7 and the "Best New Music" designation from music review site Pitchfork Media.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14678-love-remains/ |title=How to Dress Well: Love Remains | Album Reviews |publisher=Pitchfork |date=September 24, 2010 |access-date=September 17, 2012}} Stereogum recognized How to Dress Well as one of its "40 Best Bands of 2010".{{cite web|url=http://stereogum.com/485822/stereogum-40-best-new-bands-of-2010/franchises/listomania |title=Stereogum's 40 Best New Bands Of 2010 |date=September 2010 |publisher=Stereogum |access-date=September 17, 2012}} Spin gave the album 8 out of 10 stars, calling it "as meditative as it is evocative... conjuring fractured memories of Shai or TLC".{{cite web|last=Hogan |first=Marc |url=http://www.spin.com/reviews/how-dress-well-love-remains-lefse |title=How to Dress Well, 'Love Remains' (Lefse) | SPIN | Albums | Critical Mass |date=October 2010 |publisher=SPIN |access-date=September 17, 2012}}

In 2011, How to Dress Well released the Just Once EP—a four-song suite of "Suicide Dream" songs set against a string quartet. The EP collects two previously released tracks bearing the name "Suicide Dream", adds a third with that title, and throws in a new version of "Decisions". The set was inspired by and is dedicated to a friend of Krell's, who died.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/reader/how-to-dress-well/ |title=Cover Story: How to Dress Well | Features |publisher=Pitchfork |access-date=February 23, 2016}} Limited to 1,000 copies, the 10" vinyl release donated $1 of every record sold to a nonprofit working to raise awareness about mental illness.{{cite web|last=How To Dress Well |url=https://yourstrulysf.bandcamp.com/album/just-once-ep |title=Just Once EP}}

On the heels of the success of Love Remains, Krell signed a deal with Weird World Records, an imprint of Domino Records. Total Loss was released on September 18, 2012, in North America by Acephale Records and worldwide through Weird World Records.{{cite web|last=Phares |first=Heather |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/total-loss-mw0002382249 |title=Total Loss - How to Dress Well : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=September 17, 2012}} Krell wrote the album over the course of fifteen months or so in Brooklyn, Chicago, Nashville, and London. The album received a "Best New Music" nod from Pitchfork Media, where Ian Cohen wrote that it is "a work of poignant and devastating art".{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Ian|title=How to Dress Well|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17046-total-loss/|publisher=Pitchfork|date=September 20, 2012}} It was also named by Pitchfork as one of the "Top 50 Albums of 2012".{{cite web|title=The Top 50 Albums of 2012|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9017-the-top-50-albums-of-2012/3/|publisher=Pitchfork|access-date=July 26, 2014}}

In April 2014, How to Dress Well released the first single off his forthcoming third studio album, titled "Repeat Pleasure".{{cite web|url=http://www.indieshuffle.com/how-to-dress-well-repeat-pleasure/ |title="Repeat Pleasure" - How to Dress Well |publisher=Indie Shuffle |access-date=April 7, 2014}} The album was released on June 23, 2014, via Domino Records / Weird World Records {{cite web |url=http://whatisthisheart.com/ |title=whatisthisheart.com |publisher=whatisthisheart.com |access-date=July 26, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706174023/http://whatisthisheart.com/ |archive-date=July 6, 2014 }} and was well received by music critics, earning an 8.8 and "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19433-how-to-dress-well-what-is-this-heart/|publisher=Pitchfork Media|title=How to Dress Well – "What Is This Heart?"|first=Ian|last=Cohen|date=June 23, 2014|access-date=June 24, 2014}} Paste Magazine noted that "Krell has managed to indulge his experimental tendencies while at the same time achieve his most accessible sound to date".{{cite web|url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/how-to-dress-well-what-is-this-heart-review.html|publisher=Paste Magazine|title=How to Dress Well – "What Is This Heart?"|first=Benjamin|last=Hurston|date=June 24, 2014|access-date=June 24, 2014}}

Capitalizing on the success of "What Is This Heart?", How to Dress Well embarked on a world tour, beginning in the spring of 2014. The tour started off with shows in Europe and continued on to include stops in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and cities throughout Asia. The artist performed at a number of major European, North American, and Asian festivals, including Flow Festival, Hostess Club Weekender, and Pitchfork Music Festival.{{cite web|last=Geslani |first=Michelle |url=http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/05/how-to-dress-well-announces-2014-u-s-tour-dates/ |title=How To Dress Well announces 2014 U.S. tour dates |publisher=Consequence of Sound |date=May 19, 2014 |access-date=February 23, 2016}}

On July 27, 2016, How To Dress Well announced his fourth full-length album, Care. He also released the album's first single, "Lost Youth / Lost You", along with an accompanying music video. On August 30, 2016, How To Dress Well premiered "What's Up" on Zane Lowe's Beats1 show. On September 19, 2016, KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic premiered the next single, "Can't You Tell". Care was released on September 23, 2016, on Weird World / Domino Records{{Cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/66825-how-to-dress-well-announces-new-album-care-shares-lost-youth-lost-you-video/|title=How to Dress Well Announces New Album Care, Shares "Lost Youth / Lost You" Video|last1=Yoo|first1=Noah|last2=Pearce|first2=Sheldon|date=July 27, 2016|website=pitchfork.com|access-date=October 8, 2016}} and was well received by critics. The New York Times commented that the songs on Care "build dreamlike edifices of electronic and acoustic sounds: sometimes anthemic, sometimes danceable" {{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/tom-krell-how-to-dress-well-care-interview.html?_r=0|title=Tom Krell of How to Dress Well, on Caring|author=Jon Pareles|date=September 14, 2016|work=The New York Times}} and Stereogum raved "there's the music itself, which is fucking gorgeous, which goes beyond even the levels of gorgeousness that Krell managed on 2014's great "What Is This Heart?"{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/tom-krell-how-to-dress-well-care-interview.html?_r=0|title=Album Of The Week: How To Dress Well Care|author=Tom Breihan|date=September 20, 2016|work=Stereogum}} The Line of Best Fit wrote "Care is as close to a perfect example of modern music as you're likely to find—it's self-reliant, self-assured and packed with more hooks than a cloakroom".{{cite web|url=http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/how-to-dress-well-care|title=How to Dress Well's Care has a style that can't be taught|author=Ryan Lunn|date=September 12, 2016|work=The Line of Best Fit}}

In September 2018, How to Dress Well announced his fifth studio album, The Anteroom. It was created as a 'testament' to a two-year period in his life where he "felt [himself] slipping out of the world and into a cosmic loneliness in which [he] would eventually be dissolved".{{cite web|title=How To Dress Well Announces The Anteroom, Shares "Nonkilling 6 {{!}} Hunger" {{!}} Music News {{!}} Consequence of Sound|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/09/how-to-dress-well-the-anteroom-album/|website=Consequence of Sound|date=September 10, 2018|access-date=September 17, 2018}} With the album, he sought to explore the experimental sounds of his early work, as well as influences from the works of Coil, Prurient, Gas, and Grouper.{{cite web|title=RA News: How To Dress Well to release new techno-informed album, The Anteroom|url=https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/42477|website=Resident Advisor|access-date=September 16, 2018}} The album was released on October 19.

During the summer of 2018, the Getty Center Tram in Los Angeles featured site-specific original musical and sound composition from Krell.{{cite web|url=https://sarahannecooper.com/Tom-Krell-Tram-Music|title=Tom Krell Tram Music|author=Sarah Anne Cooper|date=June 29, 2018|work=Sarahannecooper.com}}

• Love Remains (2010)
• Total Loss (2012)
• "What Is This Heart?" (2014){{cite web|url=http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/140705cluk.txt |title=Chart Log UK: New Entries Update: Combined Singles (200): Chart Date: 0 5.07.2014 |website=Zobbel.de |access-date=July 13, 2014}}
• Care (2016)
• The Anteroom (2018){{cite web|url=https://www.clashmusic.com/news/how-to-dress-well-details-new-album-the-anteroom|title=How To Dress Well Details New Album 'The Anteroom' {{!}} News|work=Clash|last=Murray|first=Robin|date=September 12, 2018|access-date=September 13, 2018}}
• I Am Toward You (2024){{cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/33914-how-to-dress-well-unveils-first-lp-in-six-years-i-am-toward-you|title=How to Dress Well Unveils First LP in Six Years, I Am Toward You|website=The Quietus|last=Eede|first=Christian|date=February 29, 2024|access-date=March 28, 2024}}

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Category:1984 births

Category:Living people

Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters

Category:American experimental musicians

Category:The New School alumni

Category:University of Bonn alumni

Category:DePaul University alumni

Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters

Category:21st-century American male singers

Category:American male singer-songwriters

Category:Domino Recording Company artists

Category:Tri Angle (record label) artists