Taylor Swift - Folklore

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I'm getting some really pleasant R.E.M. vibes here, esp. w/"Illicit affairs" (I'm thinking of the likes of "Half a world away")

I like the way "Illicit Affairs" doesn't resolve, musically or narratively. It goes into the bridge and never comes back.

Has anybody seen the bridge?

someone call phoebe

Bridgers to Babylon

I suspect Swift might be more into "Bridge to Terabithia."

That might be the harshest thing anyone has ever said about Taylor Swift.

I like the album a lot, but JFC she is milking her fans with these staggered merch and single drops. I mean, obviously no one has to buy all of this shit, but I genuinely feel bad for these young stans that are feeling pressured to buy everything to show their support.

I really liked the cardigan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this is always the strangest moment of the new Taylor Swift album thread

Bridge to Terabithia was my favorite book in elementary school because I'm never not hovering over the surface of my deep emotions, so I have been feeling deeply validated by this album

Hopefully someday there will be an ILM Taylor tracks poll so I can vote for "invisible string"

I just accidentally closed my mp3 player app while playing invisible string and it was living death.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/taylor-swift-remains-silent-as-fans-doxx-and-harass-music-critic-over-folkore-review

that Tapes n' Tapes album did getba better score

Menomena, too

I assume I'm in a very small club when I say I miss Menomena

Guillemots

I heard what turned out to be Invisible String randomly, really like it a lot! Heard another one I didn't like so I'll stick with just this track for now and try another in a couple of weeks

a couple of mit grads made an algorithm that tells you "if you liked 'Invisible String', listen to 'peace' next"

I didn’t realize that doxxing/harassment was going on. Why doesn’t she say something?

maybe she's upset that two Architecture in Helsinki albums got higher scores

the cardigan demo really highlights the vocal melodies and performance in a nice way. Must have been too dark in that cabin to find the vocal mic's gain slider, though.

also makes the album version's percussion feel like a tortured production choice that takes me out of it a bit now.

maybe she's upset that two Architecture in Helsinki albums got higher scores

...or too busy tracking down Architecture In Helsinki for a collaboration on her next quarantine album.

where's the cardigan demo?

it is a single on spotify, and I assume elsewhere. Called "cabin in candlelight version."

We made an all acoustic, stripped down version of #Cardigan yesterday. Have a listen! https://t.co/sUZyj1WLRp

— Aaron Dessner (@aaron_dessner) July 30, 2020

i think it's just an alternate mix, not the demo. the piano & vocal take sounds the same as the album version, so the only new addition to the mix is the acoustic guitar.

i like the album version's percussion, it adds to the ways it reminds me of tori

ah ok. I googled it while listening and nme.com calls it a demo. I've been lied to.

i've heard "cardigan" on the radio several times now and to my surprise it never sounded out of place

A "remix/mashup" of Mirrorball and This Is Me Trying, tagged as #Shoegaze. Probably closer to Noise Pop due to the blown-out nature of the mix. Pretty cool.

https://soundcloud.com/stpaulattheendoftheworld/mirror-trying-remix-mashup-of-taylor-swift-mirrorball-this-is-me-trying

This album is so precisely my shit. Just killer track after killer track. Giving me a lot of mid-90s lo-fi indie vibes, Scrawl in particular. I don't think she's ever written better melodies or let herself just consistently stretch out like this. And when she has in the past the lyrics have always felt a bit cloying, like overcompensating or showy, and now its just so goddamn seamless. This is now up in competition with any of the classic singer-songwriter albums from the 70s or whatever. I absolutely didn't expect we could ever have chart-topping albums like this ever again.

even the "bad" ones have grown on me

also how tf did the whole conversation about "cardigan" revolve around ldr and not like early fiona apple? (and there's a lot of half-quotes of "wildest dreams" too)

the other comparison that came up apart from ldr wrt "cardigan" was tori amos which i agree with far more

um, Scrawl vibes?! guess I will listen to this after all

hmmm but scrawl were good

I played this a lot those first few days, but haven’t been compelled to revisit it. I guess each album of hers (since Red) has had less staying power for me than the one preceding it.

I very much enjoyed relistening to this tonight although yeah you could cut 3-4 songs easy

I resequenced the album and it made me love it a lot more

there's a natural flow to the songs on this album that isn't the official track listing, and it serves to highlight the songs that make up the album much more

without having to cut any songs if you don't want to -- it's definitely a slow burn of an album

josh post the sequence

here's my sequence! it sounds like a proper adventure through the wilderness with peaks and valleys along the way -- starts out slow and sunny, slowly shifts into sepia and somber, moves through those tones, then eventually finds some clearing at the end.

it may be helpful to view this sequencing in the LP format -- Side A: 1-4; Side B: 5-8; Side C: 9-12; Side D: 13-16

1. epiphany
2. mirrorball
3. august
4. invisible string
5. betty
6. the last great american dynasty
7. illicit affairs
8. cardigan
9. hoax
10. seven
11. mad woman
12. exile (ft. Bon Iver)
13. this is me trying
14. my tears ricochet
15. peace
16. the 1

i guess i shouldn't be surprised that ppl here are driven to resequence the best-sequenced taylor swift record since fearless but... whet?????? "the 1" last???? no way

i mean not to knock the adventure you've created josh, it looks like a fun listen!

yeah there's nothing wrong with the sequence at all and i think her sequencing has usually been kinda dubious at best.

ha no big! we're all just having fun here

guess it's just indicative of how I listen to music

"the 1" last????

You should hear my "Wish" resequence that starts with "End" and ends with "Open." Totally changes your perspective, makes you think! No wonder Robert Smith is struggling with the remaster.