Taylor Swift - Folklore

"Betty" is the best-sounding thing on here, figures it's the only Dessner-Antonoff-Swift co-production

I thought that too.
Which makes me wonder if its gonna be a another "lonely starbucks lovers" thing.

mellow is the dominant mood. the songcraft is out of this fucking world though

and i haven't been studying the lyrics intently but... she seems in top form here

I'm enjoying the mellowness. She's been on such a maximalist kick for so long. (Not that maximalism is absent here, it's just a gauzier variety.) I've always been a fan of mid-tempo and ballad Taylor.

(only halfway through the album but feels likely to be my favorite of hers since Red.)

Damn, she DID write a folk-metal album -- from "Invisible String"

"Cold was the steel of my ax to grind for the boys who broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents"

every melody is somehow lovelier than the last

My biggest objection to her dance-pop stuff is it tends to be too rigid to let her unfurl those long melody lines. Which she's really good at.

she keeps some of the clipped-pop delivery here but it sure works

lol at "betty" being about being in love with a girl but she makes sure there's one line that makes it clear she's playing a male role to make it straight

so none of this is gonna be played on the radio huh

seven is lovely.

"Cardigan" is being promoted to radio.

overall this is quite good, probably a few tracks longer than it needed to be but that's my only complaint

Trixie Mattel will cover "Betty" by Monday.

That modulation at the end of Betty is just *chef's kiss*.

i want a whole album of "august"s

I haven’t listened to Bon Iver since Skinny Love and that EP, does he always sound like this

no, it's rare to hear him in that lower register

"what if you just sang it in a normal voice, like a regular singer, Justin?"

— Keith Harris (@useful_noise) July 24, 2020

lol at "betty" being about being in love with a girl but she makes sure there's one line that makes it clear she's playing a male role to make it straight

well - the other characters have names, why not the narrator ("James")? it doesn't feel forced to me

piano on Cardigan is very 'Norman Fucking Rockwell'.

Cardigan is her best single since Blank Space.

it was just funny because when i first heard it i thought she'd written a gay song until the one line where she no homos it by revealing the narrator's name

'james' never made anyone less gay

Was Taylor referring to the National when she sang about that indie band in We Are Never etc

Lol if so that would be the ultimate slow burn revenge on Jake Gyllenhaal

On about the 4th time through August I realized the opening reminds me of "Life in a Northern Town." (A good thing.)

Was Taylor referring to the National when she sang about that indie band in We Are Never etc

― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Thursday, July 23, 2020 11:13 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

unfortunately it was best coast

cardigan is good but there are several tracks even better here imo! But it's not an album of singles that will take off so whatever.

Definitely some of her best melody lines ever here and they're allowed space to breathe

Holy shit @ "Illicit Affairs"

I think this is the best Swift album ever and I'm still only at August on my first play

still on my first time through and have been knocked for 6 a few times, most recently on "invisible string"

"August" has a very specific vibe I'm having trouble placing. The Sundays? Sixpence None the Richer?

On about the 4th time through August I realized the opening reminds me of "Life in a Northern Town." (A good thing.)

I also hear a bit of 'Back for Good' by Take That in it. The "I can see..." bit reminds me of "whatever I said, whatever I did".

re "August", it's very "Here's Where The Story Ends" or "Homeward" from The Sundays, but the chorus also has overtones of 90s Cocteau Twins.

Re « August » the « I can see » part reminds me of... « I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) » !

when brad compared it to cocteau twins i heard it immediately, the shimmering guitar + drum machine + the "i can see us lost in the memory..." melody

"Seven" is very Sufjan

with rapping

(also - I'm hesitant to type this - but in "Mirrorball," when she starts to sing "You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes," it totally sounds like she's about to sing "You'll find me on my toilet...")

cosigning this

Funnier later in the chorus (?) where it sounds like she’s saying “...but I’m still on my toilet.”

re "August", it's very "Here's Where The Story Ends" or "Homeward" from The Sundays, but the chorus also has overtones of 90s Cocteau Twins.

― Tim F, Friday, July 24, 2020

A helluva thing to read first thing

I love this album
I think it reflects both the best of Taylor's writing and also of The National folks' production
I feel like my fandom for both respective artists is justified
I hope Matt Berninger is having a good day

don’t know if anyone’s talked about “peace” yet, but...wow, “peace”

I like the pastoral home-movie clips that accompany each track on the Spotify phone app. They help to set the mood.

Peace was the one that set me off, tears forming in my eyes. What a great album

so "The Last American Dynasty" is her less starstruck "Starlight" crossed with "Showbiz Kids," no?

God, yes, me too on "Peace" - that one really stopped me in my tracks, a heart-stopping tear-jerker.