How To Dress Well
Whitworth Gallery, Manchester | May 15th
How To Dress Well’s Tom Krell melted hearts with his poignant 2012 album Total Loss, a collection of songs which addressed the raw emotional issues of personal loss and struggle. Tonight’s welcome return performance in Manchester sees him uncoventionally conduct his set to an all-seated audience at the Whitworth Art Gallery. Ushers aid ticket holders to their seats, boxed Chardonnay is cantered out in the lobby, and a charming element of DIY class lends itself to the event.
Presenting in front of a series of lucid, hypnotic projections (catastrophic, green clay-plaster faces a la Samsara? Spine-tingling), How To Dress Well and his on-stage aide transcribe the soulful and rhythmic blues of & It Was U into a yearning falsetto whirlwind. We’re informed of anecdotes that range from passings of friends, the desire for creative freedom, confusion of sexual relations and even riot nights. Yet rest assured, this is not a strictly downbeat environment but rather, a mass sense of conviction, bravery and celebration for such talent ripples from wall to wall.
This is not just a performance, it is performance art in which Krell provokes your senses with his admirable vulnerability. World I need You, Won’t Be Without You reduces some to tears, and many grab the hands of the person next to them while heart-wrenching violin ensembles provoke an essence of empathy. After Krell requests the sound man cranks up the volume so that the audience can ‘feel’ set closer Set It Right ‘inside their chests’, cinematically grandiose bursts of passion overflow from every pore of his very being. It’s moving, sentimentally intense and alluring, and the crowd rupture to their feet in an impressive surge of appreciation.
– – – – – – – – – –
Words: Leah Connolly
CONNECT TO CRACK
