How To Dress Well – “Contingency/Necessity (Modality Of Fate)”
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Sean Stout
We are just nine days from the release of I Am Toward You, the first How To Dress Well release since 2018. Tom Krell has shared a bunch of songs from the album so far, and today he’s got one more for us. “Contingency/Necessity (Modality Of Fate)” continues to show off the new project’s impeccable, inscrutable aesthetic.
In a press release, Krell says this is “a song about how random decisions and random historical contingencies come together to shape a life into something undeniable and necessary,” inspired by the experience of heavy rainfall in Berlin in 2013. Featuring guitar and synth work from CFCF, it sounds crystalline and computerized and slightly surreal, like a hologram shrouded in mist from a waterfall — or like latter-day Bon Iver crossed with something Krell’s beloved Bladee might rap over. When the distorted loop kicks in at the end, it’s one of the more euphoric moments I’ve heard in a while. Listen below.
I Am Toward You is out 5/10 on Sargent House.