If there is indeed an ocean floor for everything, Tom Krell has no interest in making his music the exception. The first tease of the forthcoming Total Loss, sounds like it’s coming from somewhere deep within the earth. The only thing that comes through clearly is Krell’s words, which have been largely inaudible to this point in his career. “We never really plan for the worst of things, do we?” he asks in his typically ghostly falsetto. Filled with the usual R&B flourishes, bits of piano and slow-burning orchestration that blooms after a highly ambient first half, there is a little more colour seeping into the edges of How to Dress Well’s music.
Even though several of its tracks were capable of standing on their own, Love Remains was an album that deserved to be listened to front-to-back. “Ocean Floor for Everything” will likely sound better in context, but there’s one thing it has on display that’s pretty hard to dislike: growth.
Total Loss is due out later this year on Acephale (US) / Weird World (Internationally).
