That Explains Why The Melody And The Vocals Seemed Like A Sort Of Weird Syncopation - Tumblr Posts

“Sonically, the ideas were coming from me more. But I remember when I wrote “Tolerate It,” right before I sent it to her, I thought, This song is intense. It’s in 10/8, which is an odd time signature. And I did think for a second, “Maybe I shouldn’t send it to her, she won’t be into it.” But I sent it to her, and it conjured a scene in her mind, and she wrote this crushingly beautiful song to it and sent it back. I think I cried when I first heard it. But it just felt like the most natural thing, you know? There weren’t limitations to the process. And in these places where we were pushing into more experimental sounds or odd time signatures, that just felt like part of the work. It was really impressive to me that she could tell these stories as easily in something like ‘Closure’ as she could in a country song like 'Cowboy Like Me.’ Obviously, 'Cowboy Like Me’ is much more familiar, musically. But to me, she’s just as sharp and just as masterful in her craft in either of those situations. And also, just in terms of what we were interested in, there is a wintry nostalgia to a lot of the music that was intentional on my part. I was leaning into the idea that this was fall and winter, and she’s talked about that as well, that Folklore feels like spring and summer to her and Evermore is fall and winter. So that’s why you hear sleigh bells on 'Ivy,’ or why some of the imagery in the songs is wintery.”

— Aaron Dessner to Rolling Stone on Taylor’s choice to branch out more on evermore (x)