Live Review: How To Dress Well & Collarbones

Collarbones' set screamed immaturity and their ridiculously exaggerated gyrations and vapid songwriting grated. They had a loud, hollow core to their act that irritated quite a few people. Luckily they weren't on long.

When How To Dress Well's first album, Love Remains, popped up in 2010, indie R&B was in the midst of an incredible revival. Tom Krell's contribution was a hypnotic meditation that sounded like a half-remembered dream. His vocals were veiled in dense funereal gauze, and moody synths drowned everything. His follow-up, last year's Total Loss, was as if Krell woke up, and it was a vivid, crystalline exploration of personal loss and pain.

Comparing his performance at OAF to his first performance at GoodGod last year is similar to the trajectory between albums. This time his sound was well defined, clean and strong. His falsetto was devastating. Total Loss is an incredibly personal record, but its intellectual content was irrelevant on the night. Kaleidoscope footage of sad faces and silent anguish accompanied the set, and the projections cast noir-ish slashes of light and dark across Krell. Between that, the lone violin and his voice, he offered a thirsty canvas that the audience could project their own context onto.

Krell was a little drunk, and his banter was charming and offset the heavy mood. It was impressive how easily he could slip between the guy slinging jokes across the room and the guy melting hearts with a cappella songs about estranged loved ones. The room was deathly silent, something the OAF rarely experiences. How To Dress Well is an important artist in contemporary R&B. His brave vulnerability is the key to his appeal on record but confident, generous performances like this one are a joy to behold.