Kahan burst onto the scene with his song “Stick Season,” originally on TikTok back in 2020 and then officially as a finished single in 2022. Since then, Kahan has been on a rocket ship of fame and success. His 2022 album, also titled “Stick Season” spawned a number of hits, including “Northern Attitude,” “Dial Drunk,” and “She Calls Me Back.”
Now he’s back with his next album, “The Great Divide,” which sees Kahan sharpen his toolkit and lean into a fuller rock sound. Bursting with new singalongs and anthems, “The Great Divide” is full of songs that double as character studies or catharsis or both. On “Porch Light,” produced with Aaron Dessner, Kahan imagines his own mom’s loneliness and frustration with her son’s fame. On “Heading North,” he takes on the persona of a scorned lover missing an ex with a little bit of spite. On the album’s deluxe edition, subtitled “The Last of the Bugs,” there’s a song called “Staying Still,” which is sure to rock stadiums on tour with its soaring chorus: “Oh I can’t keep on starting over/sleeping in a bed half empty, daydreaming.”
With polished production and chalk-full of fun melodies and guitar riffs, Noah Kahan’s new album “The Great Divide” is well on its way to becoming another folk-rock classic.
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