In Evermore, Taylor Swift puts autobiography aside to tell stories that aren’t necessarily her own

The aftermath is always complicated. The original is a creative leap; Follow-up is likely to be incremental. So far, Taylor Swift has changed her collaborators and the overall sound with each album. But she has billed correctly Increasingly, his ninth surprise release album, as the “sister” to the one he released less than five months ago, Folklore.

“It feels like we are standing on the edge of the folk woods and we have a choice: turn around and go back or travel further into the woods of this music,” Swift wrote in a statement. “We choose to roam deeper.”

He continued writing songs with him Folklore mental confidence of producers and musicians – mainly Aaron Dessner of the National, who plays most of the instruments and collaborated on 14 of 15 songs. Swift’s boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn, participated in three songs under the pseudonym William Bowery; Jack Antonoff, who also wrote with Swift in Folklore, worked in two.

Increasingly (Republic) clings to the acoustic-minimalist palette of Folklore, with homey piano and unflappable guitar patterns.

Swift and Dessner recruited more backing musicians for Bryce Dessner’s mini-orchestral arrangements, also from the National, but for the majority of Increasingly, Swift turns even more inward, away from her pop past, than she did in Folklore, drifting towards elegant but cerebral craftsmanship.

In FolkloreSwift decided that she could put the autobiography aside to tell stories that weren’t necessarily her own. Increasingly features more character studies and role-playing games, while singing about infidelity, scammers, and even murder. ‘Ivy,’ Written with Aaron Dessner and Antonoff, it is a convoluted folk song about the secret adventure of a married woman, enveloped by the banjo and the plucking of the guitar as she sings about the temptation that tears her: “Your touch produced an incandescent glow / Dull but so great. “

In ‘It’s the damn season‘the singer visits her hometown during the holidays and suggests a weekend affair with someone she had left behind. In ‘Champagne problems, ‘the narrator rejects a serious proposal, singing: “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer / Until someone kneels down and asks you.” The music is an elaborate evolving sigh, beginning with lo-fi and oompah piano chords that grow intertwined with guitar arpeggios and a chorus of “aah.” Swift has more fun with ‘No body, no crime, ‘accompanied by two of the sisters in Haim, Este and Danielle, singing about cheating, revenge, and unsolved murders and animated by a howling harmonica.

Swift’s latest breakout songs, her longtime specialty, seek maturity by taking a step back. Church organ tones surround her as she faces the end of a seven-year romance in ‘Happiness,’ slipping into anger – “I hope I am a beautiful fool / Who takes my place by your side” – but determined to be fair: “There will be happiness after you / But there was also happiness thanks to you.” And the title track of the album ‘Increasingly,’ he looks back, over a serene piano line, on how he used to believe “that this pain would be forever”; Bon Iver (Justin Vernon), returning after his appearance in FolkloreShe arrives in the middle to recall more turbulent times, but Swift is determined to put the pain behind her.

Swift may still bristle, as she does in ‘Closing. With pushy percussion and electronic crackle behind her, she refuses to give an ex the satisfaction of pretending to be friendly. Although “it’s been a long time,” he scoffs, “don’t treat me like a situation that needs to be handled / I’m fine with my spite and tears.” It’s a glimpse of what Swift might call “old Taylor,” still in close emotional combat.

‘Closing’ it is in an unconventional meter, 5/4; So is ‘Tolerate it, ‘in which Swift’s character is a woman who gives her all to someone who takes her for granted. Those are two of the album’s myriad musical flourishes, along with the relentlessly intertwined guitar.Willow‘and the blazing electronics and stealthy pizzicato strings in ‘Marjorie’ (paying tribute to Swift’s grandmother, Marjorie Finlay). The sonic details of Increasingly they are radiant and meticulous; the composition is balanced and careful. It is an album to respect. But with all its constructs and assumptions, it also maintains a certain emotional distance.

Jon Pareles c. 2020 The New York Times Company