Total Loss (album)
| Total Loss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by How to Dress Well | ||||
| Released | October 2, 2012 | |||
| Genre | Alternative R&B, ambient | |||
| Length | 42:15 | |||
| Label | Acéphale Records, Weird World | |||
| Producer | How to Dress Well, Rodaidh McDonald, Forest Swords | |||
| How to Dress Well chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 77/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| BPM | 85% |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| Fact Magazine | |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Clash Music | 8/10 |
| Consequence of Sound | |
Total Loss is the second studio album by American musician How to Dress Well. It was released in September 2012 on Acephale Records in North America and Weird World Records in other regions. The track "Cold Nites", which was co-written and co-produced by Forest Swords, was released as a single.
Acclaimed by critics, the album was listed 33rd on Stereogum's list of top 50 albums of 2012.
How to Dress Well spoke about the influence for the album, Janet Jackson's "The Velvet Rope".
The main thing I took from her is sort of this self-trust, self-care, emotional honesty thing. Velvet Rope is an amazing example. She set such an example for trusting yourself, and following that intuition wherever it takes you. She could've made an entire record of "Together Again"'s—eleven of those. But she made a fucking sprawling masterpiece with a song from every genre, and it works. Because you see her discerning taste in every single track, and every single track, and every single choice, every musical instrument. Some songs her voice is all distorted, and in other songs it's so close to the mic that it sounds like she's singing in your ear—you can hear her lip-smacking and shit. It's a total statement, This is me kind of record. And I like writing different kinds of songs.
Total Loss is a bunch of different kinds of songs on it. I was like, "Shit, how do I make this record?" Do I pick one and stick with it and write all those? No, that would be truncating this sense I have that all these songs are special and valuable. And so that album [Velvet Rope] to me became a shining light of how to make an album that's totally true to yourself, and is about taking proper care of yourself, and paying attention to your spirit, and trusting that it'll all hang together even if there's all different kinds of vibes on the record. And for me, "Together Again" is infinitely more special because it's this little gem on that otherwise very different record. If it were a whole record of "Together Again"'s, I'd probably love the song but I don't know if in the same way.
A cover of Janet Jackson's "Again" appears on a bonus 7" included with select versions of the album.
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Wikipedia