When Ryan Adams first announced that he would be releasing a cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989, he said it would be recorded in the style of Bruce Springsteen and the Smiths. (And if that wasn’t enough to pique the interest of apoplectic rockists everywhere, he then used a T-shirt design that reimagined 1989 as the cover of Sonic Youth’s classic 1990 album, Goo, as album art.) Today Adams finally debuted the full album of covers to much fanfare, and while it does cite his intended influences at times, the idea of emulating iconic sounds while covering Taylor Swift could have gone to much more extreme places. Enter Father John Misty. Not to be outdone by Adams’s big attempt to unite poptimists and rockists everywhere, the folk-rock troubadour also known as Josh Tillman has released his own pair of covers from 1989 — “Welcome to New York†and “Blank Spaceâ€Â — recorded in the style of the Velvet Underground. Misty’s Lou Reed impression is so spot-on, you’ll completely forget you’re listening to Taylor Swift songs, and depending where you fall on the Möbius strip, that may be the best thing about it.
