Tom Krell, the man behind alternative sensation How To Dress Well, has had a busy year. His sophomore effort, the indelible and emotive “What Is This Heart?” hit shelves in June, and he released three videos over the course of three months that act as a linear story. He’s now embarking on a tour spanning multiple countries in support of the new album, including an appearance at Brighton Music Hall on Tuesday, September 16th. We caught up with Tom and chatted about his video trilogy, his songwriting process, and why it was important for him to be thorough with his depiction of relationships on the album.

Allston Pudding: Now that you’re heading on a tour that includes dates in Canada and Europe, is it weird to see people connecting with something as personal as your music around the world?

Tom Krell: Nah, it’s not weird. It’s really cool!

AP: With such personal subject matter, do you have a uniform songwriting process?

TK: I mean I don’t really have that personal subject matter, to be honest. It’s not like doing like coffee shop confessional music or anything like that. I do have a pretty uniform songwriting process. Every song starts with something, either a piano loop, a guitar bit, a vocal bit, a sample… Something that strikes me. And then I just start kind of free-styling over it for about 15-20 minutes and then after that initial period I write the bulk of the song. I write just by singing, I write  the arrangement of what will go where. I start the kind of free-styling, free-associate lyrics… Yeah, it’s a very associative process.

AP: While you broke onto the scene, it seemed like everyone was was rushing to give you a sort of indie-R&B label but with your newest release you’ve really broken out of that shoe-horning. Do you feel like attempts at fitting artists with labels are becoming increasingly arbitrary?

TK: Hm, I don’t know. I don’t think that they’re increasingly arbitrary. Now that scenes are dead, people are eager to see stuff where there aren’t these thick connections, you know?

AP: Yeah, absolutely. Now, earlier this summer you completed a fantastic video trilogy comprised of “Repeat Pleasure,” “Face Again,” and “Childhood Faith In Love”. What made you want to do three videos to tell a story and why did you choose those songs?

TK: The main reason I wanted to do a trilogy is just that I really wanted to do something that was more content… more content-full and thematically rich than just a video because most music videos are just like, advertisements basically, you know what I mean? They just like put a person in front of the camera with like three outfit changes and then you’ve got yourself an ad for your album.

AP: Exactly!

TK: And I didn’t want to just fall into that trap ‘cause frankly I think it’s a waste of money and I think it’s a waste of a real opportunity to do something thematically focused and continue to work up the record, and so forth. “Repeat Pleasure” is an obvious single. “Face Again” in my mind should be a number one single, maybe in an alternate universe. And “Childhood Faith In Love,” that song I was just super attached to from the very very start of the process, and so I insisted on that. But actually, “Childhood Faith In Love” is kind of like, not really a single, properly speaking. We’re gonna do a video coming soon for two more singles, “Precious Love” and then also “Very Best Friend”.

AP: On “A Power,” the first line of the song is “I don’t have the power”. What is it that you’re talking about there?

TK: I guess the power to to overcome unease and unrest. Like, y’know, I don’t have the power to guarantee that children will be born in one piece. I don’t have the power to guarantee that the world will ever be at peace. I don’t really have the power to guarantee that the people in my life won’t suffer pain. I don’t have the power to not be aging and eventually die.

AP: And that fits in pretty well with your mentions of a lack of a grand design or a god on the record. What’s your response to people who say that there’s no meaning without a master plan?

Well, personally it seems faulty, because we go around making meaning all day everyday. I just think that’s gotta be false, and if not, what’s the alternative?

AP: Yeah, that’s true. I guess if we weren’t creating our own meaning daily then it would feel a little chaotic.

TK: It would just be nothing. It would really be nothing. So it’s either I might start meaning-making but am always exposed to the possibility of failure, and none of which will last forever… Either that or nothingness. I would rather have moments of meaning than nothingness.

AP: On the whole album, “What Is This Heart,” you painstakingly paint a very full picture of relationships that’s also inclusive of the bits that can be ugly at times. why was it so important to do so?

TK: It just felt honest to me. It’s something that I think I’ve learned of the past few years, that like nobody thinks honestly about love in pop music. And I think that the dishonesty of the images of love that we see in pop music actually cause us more pain than they do momentary pleasure they provide thinking about sweet love.

AP: What was an influence for the sound of the album that readers might not expect? Maybe something that wasn’t even musical?

TK: A major influence for the record is the films of the Dardenne brothers.

AP: Really?

TK: Yeah, the Belgian filmmakers. I just became really obsessed with the way they deal with truth and the way that they make people think that they’re personal films but if you understand them right they make very universal films. Very accordant filmmakers, I think.

AP: And last but not least, how often is it that people ask you how to actually dress well?

TK: Uh, all the time, it’s super annoying. I don’t understand… People will go up and be like “Hey, are you a panda bear?!” Like, I don’t know. People are not particularly clever.

How To Dress Well
w/ Nite Jewel
Tuesday, September 16
Brighton Music Hall
158 Brighton Ave, Allston, MA
7:00 p.m. – 18+ -$16 adv box office, $20 dos