Like the films associated with his songs (such as Lover’s Start), How To Dress Well’s music is thought out yet raw, ethereal and emotional. Also known as Tom Krell, HTDW’s musical references include Mariah Carey, Frank Ocean and Prince – but think Cocteau Twins, dubbed out and fragmented for 2013, and you won’t be far off the mark. A favourite of taste-making mags (not least because his day job, as a philosophy PhD student, makes for excellent quotes), album Total Loss (2012) muses on absence while his mix tapes and 2010’s long player, Love Remains, affirm his love of fractured R’n’B. It’s a magical match for this new show, just announced at the Whitworth Art Gallery. Under the auspices of curator Maria Balshaw, this airy Victorian space has hosted performance artist Marina Abramovich, action drawing, yoga classes and film screenings. This is the first pop concert the gallery has hosted since Gruff Rhys in 2010. For an idea of what to expect, read the Guardian review of HTDW’s Soup Kitchen show last November.
Wed 15 May, Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, M15 6ER, Tel: 0161 275 7450, 8pm, £10, www.seetickets.com. Presented by @nowwave.
- Words:
- Ruth Allan
- Published on:
- Fri 10 May 2013