This album is fantastic on second listen with headphones. There are parts that reach the celestial beauty of sigur ros while also remaining catchy. Everything sounds so crisp, and its very clear this is his most personal album to date. Im super into it. Salt song, the ruins, made a lifetime, theyll take everything, and the untitled final track are all huge standouts and thats like half the album
This album is meant to be bursting out your car windows in the sunlight. I wish it released sometime in the springtime tbh
I'm really into this so far... the more "sweeping" sound is perfectly suited to him. The way "Salt Song" expands at the end is beautiful.
Album Of The Week: How To Dress Well Care I agree with pretty much all of this lol... there are definitely some cringe-y lyrics on this album, as the review mentions, but overall they don't detract from how much I'm enjoying it, which is a lot.
"But it’s an album worth fighting over — an album where the failures are as fascinating as the successes, where the failures and successes might even be the same things." This sums it up for me.
Someone in the comments of the Stereogum piece mentioned The 1975's I Like It When You Sleep... as a comparison point, and honestly I think that's pretty accurate. It has the same sense of emotional honesty and grandiosity that I get from that album, which can be seen as cheesy, but for me works far more often than it misses. I could see most people who enjoy one of those albums enjoying the other.
I haven't really listened to the lyrics yet, as they were never really a drawing point for why I love HTDW so much, but this sounds great
I pretty much agree with the lines Stereogum singles out as particularly bad ("What's Up" had a couple points that made me actually laugh out loud when I first heard it), but I agree with that writer's conclusion that even the failures are "noble failures" that are a result of the album being so emotionally open and vulnerable. Overall, that openness is a positive for me.
"I said I love your thoughts The way they wander with such energy I also love your thighs Yeah, now you know what's up" Of fucking COURSE the cringiest line on the album has to happen right when the cheesy '80s drum fill kicks in on "What's Up" lol... I don't think that part will ever *not* make me chuckle. But it's fine at the end of the day, still a good song.
don't even think it's cringe-y or whatever, think it's really endearing. I hate this stigma that you have to sound cool when you talk about sex. He seems to approach the topic with an honesty that sounds far more believable than someone trying to be overly suave. It's confessional and I concede that it can be a little silly, but it's real which is refreshing
That article sucks lmao This record is not a record about sex although it has a few songs about sex. Tom sounds nothing like Ed Sheeran and neither does the music. And there's plenty of atmosphere for those who are concerned about that-- beautiful ambient parts that add shine to the album, rather than add shadow
idk dude when i hear miguel or jeremih sing about sex it works even tho theyre like the corniest motherfuckers alive lol, it depends on delivery
he says his wife or girlfriend thought he was listening to ed sheeran and that tom sonically channels ed sheeran when "he tries to sound like an r&b singer." really bad criticisms that don't describe the music well at all. i'm assuming this writer had immense trouble writing "this is a pop album i enjoy" so he had to find a million ways to speak around that sentiment
this is so wildly off base i'm not sure you actually read what was written and that you're not familiar with the site or author (which is fine, but makes your final criticism kinda funny to read considering how often he highlights pop music in that same column)
not really familiar with him or the site really but i also skimmed the article after disagreeing with the first paragraph
I think you will lol. Did you like his Classixx song? Bc that is a better realization of him going full pop than this album imo. I do like it though.