Total Loss

How to Dress Well's 2012 sophomore album renders slinky R&B weightless in a sea of silken synths and rippling reverb. Tom Krell is the lone ghost haunting these waters, keeping his quivering falsetto steady and serene whether engulfed in a storm of digital effects ("When I Was in Trouble") or gliding along a booming bass line ("Running Back"). It’s easy to get lost in the album, even when the wash of synths breaks away and Krell is left crooning over fingersnaps on "& It Was U".