evermore [album deluxe edition]＜Green Vinyl＞

音楽の森のもっと深くへ…。
全米・全英アルバム・チャートで1位を記録、グラミー賞にもノミネートされた前作『フォークロア』の続編となる9作目のオリジナル・アルバム!
LPスリーブには英文歌詞、フォト5枚付き
2枚のカラー・ヴァイナル

Appearing a mere five months after Folklore, Evermore is a direct sequel to its predecessor, recorded in a similar fashion during the 2020 quarantine, containing a similar supporting cast and exploring a familiar set of emotions. Evermore isnt quite a Folklore, Vol. 2, though. Where Folklore was a controlled departure, an album where every element fell into exact place, Taylor Swift is quite a bit looser on Evermore, playing with narratives and texture, feeling so comfortable in her moody surroundings that she throws around profanities without hesitation. The explicit language serves as a signal to Swifts ongoing maturation as a songwriter -- more than ever, its clear that she spins stories in a third character -- but Evermore benefits from a slight playfulness, a quality she deliberately suppressed on Folklore. It surfaces strongly on No Body, No Crime, a murder revenge tale told with the assistance of HAIM, and flows through the insistent pulse of Long Story Short and the sweet sway of Dorothea. Swift still leans into bittersweet settings, finding a sympathetic collaborator in Aaron Dessner, the co-leader of the National who produced and co-wrote the great majority of the record. The National themselves are featured on Coney Island -- Bryce Dessners grave intonations provide a strikingly effective contrast to Swifts gentle phrasing -- but they, like Dessner on the rest of the album, work as expert support to Taylor, coaxing out the bittersweet complexities of her compositions. Evermore reaches something of a crescendo on Marjorie, an ode to her late grandmother where the delicately shifting arrangement -- more electronic than acoustic, despite the albums rural imagery -- underscores instead of heightens Swifts open grieving. While Marjorie might veer toward the melancholy, Evermore as a whole doesnt play as a sad album. Swift enjoys playing with the new musical and emotional colors on her palette for Evermore to anything but a warm balm, a record suited for contemplation, not loneliness. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

『Folklore』の姉妹作と位置づけられた9枚目のアルバム。前作同様、巷間言われているアメリカーナやインディー・フォークだけにとどまらず、R&Bも含めた多彩な要素が聴きとれるという意味では、本作の全17曲もコンテンポラリーなポップ・ミュージックだと思う。楽器やリズム・トラックをオフ気味に鳴らした密室感満点のサウンドは、もちろんダンスやパーティーには向かない。しかし、内省的だから物足りない、逆に〈インディー・フォークだからクール〉という捉え方はあまりにも一面的すぎるような気がする。先入観抜きに弾き語りも含め、曲ごとに趣向を凝らした多彩な曲の数々に耳を傾けたい。マーダー・ソングと話題の"No Body, No Crime"に参加したハイムをはじめとするゲストも豪華だ。
bounce (C)山口智男