The Anteroom

The Anteroom is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Krell, best known under his project name How to Dress Well. It was released on October 19, 2018 on Domino. Its creation was influenced by a spiritually intense period in Krell's life, as well as his renewed interest in experimental electronic music that he had explored at the beginning of his career.

The Anteroom
Studio album by How to Dress Well
Released	October 19, 2018
Recorded	2016-2018
Studio	Pat House, Los Angeles
Genre	Electronic avant-pop experimental post-industrial glitch pop ambient pop
Length	57:24
Label	Domino
Producer	Tom Krell Joel Ford Michael Silver Ben Babbitt
How to Dress Well chronology
Care (2016) The Anteroom (2018)
Singles from The Anteroom
"Vacant Boat (shred) | Nonkilling 1 | The Anteroom | False Skull 1" Released: June 27, 2018 "Nonkilling 6 | Hunger" Released: September 11, 2018 "Body Fat" Released: October 15, 2018

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Album of the Year	71/100[1]
Metacritic	74/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
DIY	[4]
Dork	[5]
Drowned in Sound	4/10[6]
The Line of Best Fit	7.5/10[7]
MusicOMH	[8]

Background and influences

The Anteroom was conceptualized when Krell relocated to Los Angeles after the United States 2016 election, and was created as a 'testament' to the two-year spiritually exploratory and intense period in his life that followed where he "felt [himself] slipping out of the world and into a cosmic loneliness in which [he] would eventually be dissolved".[9] With the album, he aimed to return to the experimental sounds of his early work, but more cohesive and detailed; the press release describes the album as a 'single continuous piece of 21st century psychedelic music'.[10] The press release for The Anteroom described the album as utilizing 'blizzardous electronic noise, fragile melodies and poignant poetry',[11] and compared the album to a weighted blanket.[11] It also detailed the album's artistic and literary inspirations, citing:

Inspired by Coil (especially the "Moon Musick" phase), Robert Ashley, Kathy Acker, Helena Hauff, Neil Landstrumm, Front 242, Paul B. Preciado, "Acid Mt. Fuji," Dambudzo Marechera, Vatican Shadow, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Alec Empire, Akira Rabelais, Frank Bidart, Basic Channel, Ocean Vuong, Silvia Federici, Maggie Nelson, Alejandra Pizarnik, demonic negative transcendence, the end of life on the earth: How to Dress Well presents The Anteroom.[11]

Krell also published a Spotify playlist titled "The Anteroom Influences (LOTOU 1.1)" which documented the album's overall musical influences, as well as songs he listened to before and after the production of the album.[12]

Artist and producer Joel Ford, who contributed to The Anteroom, was described as a 'technical facilitator' and a medium, and Krell admitted that his production on the album lead to his interest and passion for music being renewed, after a prior negative experience.[13] Krell coped with 'super mangled emotions' through Ford's presence in the studio.[13] They also developed the phrase "Incomplete Picture", which described their production process and tendencies to engage in minimalism and creating 'openness for the listening act'.[13]

Concept and composition

The Anteroom is stylistically radically different from Krell's prior album under How To Dress Well, "Care" (2016), which was focused strictly on contemporary R&B and synthpop. In comparison, The Anteroom focuses deeply on experimental electronic music, ambient music and post-industrial music with abstracted pop songwriting, which was described as 'bewitching sound experimentation'. Prior to the album's release, Krell addressed that he was 'no longer making music for the algorithm', and has called it his 'most sonically, biographically and conceptually detailed and intense record to date'.[14] He also admitted that he 'got in such an intense space mentally',[15] and that the final album was 'this kind of big, exquisite corpse of itself'.[15] The album also lyrically addresses elements of Krell's own personal life, most emphasized on "Nonkilling 6 | Hunger", "July 13 No Hope No Pain", and "Love Means Taking Action".

The album features literary and poetic references; the title track, "The Anteroom", lyrically references Maggie Nelson's "Bluets" multiple times, "Nonkilling 6 | Hunger" begins with a sample of Li-Young Lee's "The Cleaving", and "Brutal | False Skull 5" uses vocal samples of poems by Ocean Vuong, Anne Sexton and Frank Bidart. Krell commented that 'the way [he] write[s] is very free associative',[13] and that he 'had a canon of books [he] was reading; over and over, books of poetry that were essential'; he compared himself to a channel for such works.[13]

Album art

The album cover of The Anteroom, different for the CD and vinyl editions, was created by Krell in collaboration with artist and friend Joshua Clancy. The deluxe vinyl edition in particular features art created in a 'VR cave' on the Oculus Rift, which they described as a 'hyper-Lascaux at the end of the world'.[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tom Krell unless indicated, and co-produced by Joel Ford and Michael Silver.

No.	Title	Writer	Length
1.	"Humans Disguised as Animals | Nonkilling 1"		4:50
2.	"Body Fat"		5:02
3.	"False Skull 7"		1:13
4.	"Nonkilling 3 | The Anteroom | False Skull 1"		6:42
5.	"Vacant Boat"		3:03
6.	"Nonkilling 13 | Ceiling for the Sky"	Krell Nick Sylvester	5:21
7.	"A Memory, The Spinning of a Body | Nonkilling 2"		5:04
8.	"Nonkilling 6 | Hunger"		5:40
9.	"July 13 No Hope No Pain"		6:35
10.	"Love Means Taking Action"	Krell Ford Loke Rahbek	4:23
11.	"Brutal | False Skull 5"		3:20
12.	"False Skull 12"		2:20
13.	"Nothing"		3:52
Total length:			57:24

Sample credits

• "Nonkilling 6 | Hunger" samples "The Cleaving" written and spoken by Li-Young Lee and a sound effect from "Hunger" (2008) directed by Steve McQueen[16]
• "Love Means Taking Action" interpolates "Love Means Taking Action" by Croatian Amor
• "Brutal | False Skull 5" samples "After Rapture" written and spoken by Ocean Vuong, elements of "Wanting To Die" written and spoken by Anne Sexton, and elements of "Valentine" written and spoken by Frank Bidart

References

1. "Album of the Year Review". Album of the Year. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
2. "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
3. Phares, Heather. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
4. Goggins, Joe. "DIY Magazine Review". DIY. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
5. Young, Martyyn (October 16, 2018). "Dork Magazine Review". Dork. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
6. Wilkinson, Henry (October 26, 2018). "Drowned in Sound Review". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
7. Biddles, Claire (October 18, 2018). "The new record from How To Dress Well is an urgent, uneasy return". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
8. Devlin, Ben (October 15, 2018). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
9. "How To Dress Well Announces The Anteroom, Shares "Nonkilling 6 | Hunger" | Music News | Consequence of Sound". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
10. "How To Dress Well announces new album The Anteroom". Domino Music. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
11. "How To Dress Well - The Anteroom – Rough Trade". Rough Trade. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
12. "The Anteroom Influences (LOTOU 1.1) | Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
13. "How To Dress Well talks philosophy, metaphysics, duality, and the truth in 'The Anteroom' [Interview]". Earmilk. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
14. "The Inside Story of How To Dress Well's Music, as Told by How To Dress Well". AnotherMan. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
15. "How To Dress Well The Anteroom Interview". Red Bull. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
16. "Class of 2018 – The 100 Greatest Songs of the Year!". Songs For Whoever. Retrieved January 30, 2019.