How to Dress Well: Care Review

By Ezlyh Gutierrez
Music Journalist

Artist: How to Dress Well
Album: Care
Label: Domino
Website: howtodresswell.com
Release Date: September 23, 2016

How to Dress Well’s Care starts off strong with ‘Can’t You Tell’ by right off the bat showing off the radiant and grand range his vocals are able to produce. While listening, it’s difficult not to think of Usher, surrounded by vigorous shades of pinks, peaches and glitter. It’s cute and undoubtedly bewitching. This is an album I can say is overproduced in a marvelous way. Everything is layered heavily giving each piece an immense presence. Do you ever dance in front of the mirror listening to a playlist that makes you feeling animated and vibrant? This album is a pot of glowing gold that needs to be a part of that experience.

We go into an area of delayed synths and Michael Jackson with the song ‘Anxious.’ As weird as it sounds it has a very 80’s workout video atmosphere. Electrifying blue leotards, fluffy yellow headbands, high kicks and jumps that keeps everybody moving all along with breaks in between. ‘They’ll Take Everything You Have’ follows up to remind you that Michael has not left the building yet. It also convinces me that the album Care could have been the sound Jackson would have produce if he hadn’t passed. At the same time, there’s no doubt this is brand new. There’s no doubt this is How To Dress Well.

But my absolute favorite song of this whole composition has to be ‘Lost Youth/Lost You’.This song grabs you by the chest and pulls you in closer. Soft and silky is the texture and comfort and well being is the feeling. It represents the album as a whole, not only because of the sound itself, but because of the message presented; Feeling like you’ve discovered what love is but then constantly having a change of heart. Its youthful, it’s uplifting and very real.

Over-all, the best way I can sum up this album is comparing it to watching droplets of vibrant paint fall into water and seeing the abundance of bold shades expand and melt. Or maybe floating through the atmosphere staring at a melting pot of violet hues and indigo’s in the dreamlike darkness. It’s safe to say I’m captivated by Care.