Pitchfork: evermore

[COOOK 76,406]

   7.9
 

"Working again with Aaron Dessner, Swift challenges herself to find new dimensions within the moody atmosphere: fingerpicked ballads, colorful pop music, and her first country songs in years."

Spoiler

"Of course, most people’s plans were canceled in 2020, and Swift is instead making the quietest, most elegant music of her career with an unexpected collaborator, the National’s Aaron Dessner. In contrast with the producers who helped amplify and smooth her songwriting for the masses, Dessner invited Swift to ramble and elaborate, to tell stories from beginning to end, to invent fictional characters with interconnected storylines. He is the friend who offers a comfortable place to spiral, leaning in and refilling their wine glasses. In other words, he would probably be really stoked about the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” with the extra verses and cursing."

"The way Swift tells it, she and Dessner were so invigorated by the process of making folklore that, without a standard press cycle and tour to follow its release this summer, they decided to just keep working. Five months later, we have evermore, a companion album built from the same general sounds and personnel, with Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and Swift’s boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn, all returning to the fold. It’s the fastest follow-up in her career and her first album to not directly overhaul the sound of its predecessor: The goal isn’t to recapture the glow of folklore’s cabin getaway but rather to extend her stay for another season."

"While folklore seemed to materialize from nowhere as a complete, cohesive vision, evermore is structurally akin to something like 2012’s Red, where the breadth of her songwriting is as important as the depth. "

"If the periods of hibernation between Swift’s records once felt crucial to the drama of her returns, her music now is filled with these momentary silences and breakthroughs. After a career spent striving for the next level of stardom, she has discovered a more sustainable path for evolution. I think about the caustic 2017 music video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” where she depicted herself as a zombie, lining up all her past selves to taunt each other; she seemed spent, haunted, sick of competing with herself. And I think of 2006’s “Our Song,” one of her first great songs, which took comfort in the idea that no music can capture the chaos of a lifetime, its moments of hope and loss, the familiar routines and sudden jolts. On evermore, she seems at peace with her past, in a suspended moment of transition, letting us follow along as she learns: Don’t just get settled, she tells us through this bounty of material. Get stronger."

Full review here.

Previous scores:

  8.0

  7.1

  8.2

[Ryusei 61,110]

*snail*

[Pop Music 20,540]

surprised it didn't get that extra .1 to get it on the same level as folklore as I completely believe they are album identical in terms of quality, just more of personal taste it terms of slight sound switches between the two 

[Damon 10,904]

i know is just .1 difference but still expected it to have the same score

[Sneaky Oliver 22,221]

I think evermore has more depth and it's musically more diverse than folklore. Folklore has more memorable melodies though.

[Fish 6,143]

both are not very memorable musically.. but nice to listen to when working from home 

[garbage 207]

this getting close to 8 but kid cudi's release struggling? i'm speechless