For many kinds of people and the culture at large, today is The Tortured Poets Department day — which, at 2 a.m., Taylor Swift announced all rigour mortis-like was actually a double album. While her right-hand man Jack Antonoff produced the majority of the album proper (which is notably already 16 songs long), some of those and much of the additional The Anthology part saw the pop star reunite with the National's Aaron Dessner, who Swift first started working with on 2020's folklore.
In a statement on the album release, Dessner revealed that Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche played on the record. The producer took to Instagram to commemorate the occasion, as well as to thank those who helped his contributions to the album come alive — Kotche among them, apparently. After thanking Swift, Antonoff, their engineering team and his brother Bryce, Dessner tagged some additional "village of friends" that "generously contributed," beginning with Kotche.
"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," Dessner reflected. "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."
As per the album's credits, Kotche played drums and percussion on "loml," "Clara Bow," "The Albatross," "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus," 'How Did It End?," "I Hate It Here," "thanK you aIMee," "The Prophecy," "The Bolter" and "Robin." Those first two tracks are on the album proper, while the other eight are on The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
See Dessner's full statement below. Among the other contributors to The Tortured Poets Department are Post Malone and Florence and the Machine, who are featured on "Fortnight" and "Florida!!!," respectively.
