Albums to watch

What Is This Heart?

How to Dress Well

What Is This Heart?

Third album of ambient, alternative r&b from Tom Krell, the American singer-songwriter

ADM rating[?]

7.1

Label
Wierd World
UK Release date
23/06/2014
US Release date
23/06/2014
  1. 9.1 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    Most interesting is the range of effects processes through which Krell runs his voice
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  2. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    Krell is a musical force not to be underestimated
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  3. 8.8 |   Pitchfork

    How to Dress Well’s modern masterpiece is conducted with the most eternal transparency — Krell asks “what is this heart” and lets you look right into his own
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  4. 8.5 |   Earbuddy

    An album which is dynamic as well as cohesive, to the extent where not listening to all tracks in order just feels plain wrong
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  5. 8.5 |   Paste Magazine

    There are still six months to go before we all start drawing up our end-of-the-year lists, but something tells me Krell won’t be feeling slighted come December
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  6. 8.0 |   Fact

    Krell’s most complete album to date
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  7. 8.0 |   Q

    An album constructed from the simplest of elements. Print edition only

  8. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    His most ambitious and addictive album to date
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  9. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    A collision between complex, elegant songwriting and soppy bedroom angst
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  10. 8.0 |   Crack

    The linchpin of this record is melody and vocal trickery
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  11. 8.0 |   DIY

    As the record progresses, it easy to hear that while 'Total Loss' offered a more refined and clear-cut take on his previously lo-fi, densely shrouded and emotion-fuelled music then 'What Is This Heart?' finally puts Krell fully centre stage
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  12. 8.0 |   Time Out

    R&B purists may disapprove, but Krell has shown they’re just bumping and grinding in the distant past
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  13. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Almost every track on this hipster R&B album sounds slick with tears, as Krell sighs, coos and reminisces with keen abandon
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  14. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    From its tentative first minutes to its fireworks-display resolution, the album luges down a clear, stable emotional narrative
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  15. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    If you carefully trim around the dross, you’re left with a stunning product and some phantasmagorical slivers of sonic mastery
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  16. 7.0 |   Spin

    It’s a marvel of engineering; there are staccato guitars, stuttering vocal samples, gasps of air, falsetto trills, and siren wails that morph into climactic and strikingly satisfying blasts
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  17. 7.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    It gets exhausting, all this honesty
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  18. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Feels like How To Dress Well exploring the musical fringes of what How to Dress Well can be
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  19. 7.0 |   Clash

    Less of a bold statement than its predecessor, with Tom Krell’s marriage of dry ice production and intimate crooning void of any great advancement from previous outings
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  20. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    A collection of thrillingly modern love songs that carry soul as well as polish
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  21. 6.0 |   The Music

    On this record Krell’s wrapped his sometimes painfully guileless honesty in music beautiful enough to soften the blow
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  22. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Trading his experimentalism for a more traditional blue-eyed soul route. Print edition only

  23. 6.0 |   The Observer

    Ehile there are a few great moments here (Words I Don't Remember, Pour Cyril), some judicious pruning of the 55-minute running time wouldn't have gone amiss
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  24. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    You have to laud Krell’s musical experimentation, but the general air of glacial bleakness seems rather forced
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  25. 6.0 |   The List

    A third serving of intimate, largely downbeat, so-called ‘indie’ R&B from Tom Krell
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  26. 6.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Krell may be preoccupied with his failure to change, but this record makes it clear he's working on it
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  27. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    These days it’s just as easy to compose bedroom musical diary entries using a few loops and samples
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  28. 5.8 |   A.V. Club

    The disconnect between Krell’s pop leanings and his innate miserableness has never been greater
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  29. 5.0 |   NME

    He’s just another hipster with a laptop
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  30. 4.0 |   PopMatters

    If you absolutely love his sound you’ll probably still get enjoyment out of this as there truthfully aren’t many artists doing what he does. However, to the casual fans I would advise skipping this and re-listening to older work from How to Dress Well
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