How to Dress Well’s I Am Toward You feels strikingly intimate, like a peek at a diary that scans as if its writer knew that it will one day be made public. On his sixth album and first full-length since 2018’s The Anteroom, Tom Krell scatters tidbits of intimacy and musings on our time to be understood both now and in the future. 

There’s the patient joy of “Contingency/Necessity (Modality of Fate),” which loops around rugged synths and campfire acoustic guitar. Krell sings of a memory from the Buddhist monastery, where he wondered if he ever made a single right decision in his life. Remarkably, the atmosphere of the music creates a world as transparent and familiar as the one heard in his lyrics. It’s a rare feat, but the sonic and narrative attention to details are held in equal esteem. The result is an album that can delight in a number of ways.

To offer some insight on the new project, we asked Krell to share some songs that have inspired him during and after the making of this record. Check out all his picks below, and pre-order I Am Toward You before it lands this Friday via Sargent House. - READ MORE/ SEE FULL PLAYLIST