Category: album reviews

Folky music has a tendency toward a melancholy, rainy-day vibe which is rather superfluous for me given my temperament, not to mention living in the Pacific Northwest. (Album collaborator Bon Iver’s Wash. captures the western part of the Washington State quite nicely.) So, well done as it is, Taylor Swift’s Folklore is unlikely to be on my go-to playlist. I’m no Swiftie so I don’t know the context or what this release may mean to long-time fans; nevertheless it seems worthwhile, and like some care was put into the lyrics, and that for those who need something to chill them out rather than pick them up, or who need some catharsis to exorcise a loss, I’m glad this album is here for them.

6/10

Not my genre but I can respect some pop. This though does almost nothing for me, and worse “Boys Will Be Boys” laid down some “us vs. them” feminism, shaming anyone who dares not absolutely endorse the song, seemingly rejecting the reality that the sexes experience sexual attraction differently, while ignoring the explicit sexualization happening in the rest of the album.

I’m just not into that kind of cognitive dissonance, yet I could have let it slide if there were something else going on creatively, some cool instrumentation or something, but this all feels carefully crafted in an almost corporate way. This is a weakness of the genre, I suppose, where bland musical product emerges like Easy Cheese from the producer’s computer.

3/10