Noah Kahan’s new album sets the tone for a melancholy spring
Between the emotionally devastating lyrics and stunning composition, Noah Kahan has created an album that resonates with people who feel like they’ve been left behind.
By Michaela Ely
Coming off the viral success of his last album released in 2022 “Stick Season,” Noah Kahan’s fourth studio album, “The Great Divide” released at midnight EST April 24. The album was announced back in January but has been teased since last year through a TikTok account with the username @thelastofthebugs, a reference to a song from Kahan’s last album. The deluxe version of the album features four additional tracks, which were released around 4 p.m. on April 24.
The first track, “End of August” is composed beautifully with the instrumentals and the soft lyrics complimenting each other perfectly. Kahan loves to tell stories through his songs, and this album tells the story of how it feels to return home when you don’t quite fit like you did before. “End of August” uses the metaphor of seasonal change to reflect Kahan’s feelings about returning home and paints a picture of a place where the opportunity to leave is hard to come by.
The fourth track, “Downfall,” feels like the song for anyone who has been left behind and is waiting for the people who left to come back because they want the company of the person who left. The chorus ends with the lyric, “I’ll keep rooting for your downfall,” but it doesn’t feel entirely malicious, it feels more like desperation. This song is very quickly becoming one of my favorites on the album as the person who always wants the people who left to come back.
“Staying Still” is one of the additional tracks added on the deluxe version, and rather than being added to the end like traditional bonus tracks, the tracks added in the deluxe version have different spots within the track list with “Staying Still” being the new track seven. This song was teased heavily on social media, but it wasn’t present on the initial track list, leading to predictions of a deluxe or double album.
When I first heard a snippet of “Staying Still” on TikTok, I knew it would be the song that wrecked me, and I was absolutely correct. The lyric, “I try to keep on starting over” from the beginning of the third chorus resonated with me on a very deep level as someone who does choose to start her life over every few years.
The title track and first single off the album, “The Great Divide” set the tone for the album, the tone being music that is going to emotionally destroy you. “The Great Divide” delves into a relationship that is falling apart with an overlying tone of religious trauma. Kahan is great at creating songs where the instrumentals don’t always match up with the vibe of the lyrics, and “The Great Divide” is not an exception.
Another one of my favorites from the album, “Willing and Able,” feels like a sequel of sorts to “Orange Juice” off of Kahan’s “Stick Season” album. It’s the type of song that describes the feeling when you almost need to have that big fight with someone in order to actually move on and move forward. The soft instrumentals paired with the heavy lyrics balances the song so it doesn’t feel too heavy.
The first time I heard a clip of “Dashboard,” I immediately had a person in mind for how I felt about this song. “Dashboard” is the song for the people who are left behind when the people they care about leave to “better themselves,” but it is also the song for the person who left if they happen to be incredibly self-aware. The lyrics from the second and third choruses, “it ain’t our fault that you aren’t suddenly somebody else, cause you’ve worked on yourself, got a dog” caught me off guard because I could immediately associate this song with someone. Something that Kahan has always excelled at in his songwriting is there is always at least one lyric from an album that leaves you feeling like you got sucker punched.
The second single off this album was “Porch Light” which is told from the perspective of Kahan’s mother as she worries about the impact of him being pulled into the spotlight. This song is structured differently than other songs on the album; rather than having a pre-chorus, the chorus is preceded by a refrain instead. I think the repetitive nature of the refrain reflects the anxiety that the narrator of this song feels, and it works well as a storytelling tool.
During my first listen of the album, “We Go Way Back” was a standout track that immediately went into my favorites. This track is also very soft and simple in terms of instrumentals and vocals, which helps to reflect the overarching theme of seeking out simplicity in life. To me, this song is incredibly soothing to listen to and reminds me of the close relationships that I have and how I should take time to prioritize those relationships over ambition.
“Dan” is the last track on both versions of the album and is speculated to be about Kahan’s friend and fellow artist, Dan Wilson, who co-wrote Kahan’s track, “Busyhead,” according to Genius’s song bio. Regardless of who the song is about, the character of “Dan” is clearly a very close friend of Kahan’s with this song focusing on how their friendship makes Kahan’s life brighter. This track also features a callback to “Carlo’s Song,” a song that focuses on Kahan coping with the death of a close friend, off of Kahan’s first studio album “Busyhead.”
“The Great Divide” boasts a 17-song track list with the deluxe version bringing that count to 21. Each song on this album feels like it tugs on a different part of your heartstrings, and I am obsessed with each track for completely different reasons. Even if you aren’t a fan of the folk-pop genre of music, I would recommend giving this album a chance just for the storytelling alone.
