The National’s Aaron Dessner “forever grateful” as he speaks out on working on Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

nme.com:

The National‘s Aaron Dessner has admitted to being “forever grateful” to have worked on Taylor Swift‘s new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.The guitarist and producer worked on Swift’s 11th studio effort along with his brother Bryce Dessner and Bleachers‘ Jack Antonoff.Dessner has a long working history with the the singer after producing her previous three albums and “re-recorded” LPs including 2020’s ‘Folklore’ and 2021’s ‘Evermore’.Swift also provided vocals and lyrics for ‘The Alcott’ on The National’s 2023 album ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’.A post shared by Aaron Dessner (@aarondessner)Posting on his Instagram, Dessner wrote: “I’m so excited and honoured to share that I have contributed to my dear friend and collaborator @taylorswift’s brilliant 11th album – a 31 song double album / anthology called ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.“We started working on these songs over two years ago and it feels like they have kept us company and evolved in beautiful and unexpected ways through so much life lived during this process.”He continued: “It’s hard to believe Taylor and I have now recorded over 60 songs together (17 across this anthology!!) in the 4 years since we began working together on ‘Folklore’ in 2020.

I am forever grateful to Taylor for sharing her insane talents with and trusting me with her music.“I believe these songs are some of the most lyrically acute, intricate, vulnerable and cathartic Taylor has ever written and I am continually astonished by her skills as a songwriter and performer.”He also thanked fellow producer Antonoff along with his brother Bryce and several engineers who are credited with working on the LP, adding that he “could never have made all this music without a village of friends.