Noah Kahan’s new album “Stick Season” feels familiar, despite its distinctive sound and lyricism.
Kahan’s third studio album was released Oct. 14. The 14-track album offers a wide range of emotions while staying grounded in Kahan’s acoustic indie-pop style.
“Stick Season” is reminiscent of fall in New England— the time between peak fall and the first snowfall, when the trees are stripped of their leaves and are left as barren “sticks.”
The new album debuts an emotional intimacy between Kahan and listeners that his previous work had not.
Kahan first teased the single “Stick Season” nearly two years before its release. The single
garnered fan favoritism on social media platforms like TikTok.
Written during the pandemic while staying with his parents, Kahan wrote the album about the small town he grew up in and the feelings that resurfaced during his time at home.
At an October concert in Northampton, Massachusetts, Kahan told the audience, “This album is my love letter to New England.”
Through his raw and heartfelt lyrics, Kahan transports the listener to a time, place, and feeling that are eerily familiar.
In “Northern Attitude,” Kahan sings “If I get too close, and I’m not how you hoped / Forgive my northern attitude, oh I was raised on little light.”
“In New England, the stereotype is that people are more reserved, maybe a little more standoffish – but I think there’s a very genuine kindness that comes out of that,” Kahan told People magazine. “I think it’s a real specific kind of life to live when you grew up in the cold with little light, and it lends to a personality type that is specific to where we’re from.”
The final track on the album, “The View Between Villages” embodies the mix of emotions one feels when returning to their hometown. Kahan speaks to universal aspects of the human condition by weaving together nostalgia and heartbreak.
Kahan sings, “A minute from home but I feel so far from it / The death of my dog, the stretch of my skin / It’s all washing over me I’m angry again / The things that I lost here / The people I knew.”
Kahan’s lyricism portrays the growing pains experienced when reconciling one’s childhood perception of the world with their adult view.
Unlike the current climate of break up songs, which is very partial to vindictiveness and anger, in “All My Love,” Kahan reflects fondly on past relationships. He sings “Now I know your name, but not who you are / It’s all OK / There ain’t a drop of bad blood, it’s all my love.” His disposition towards breakups is far more mature than the majority of its modern counterparts.
Even if you’ve never been to New England, felt a heartbreak, or been paralyzed by nostalgia for your hometown, “Stick Season” marries a bittersweet sense of home with an appreciation for difficult lessons learned in one’s youth.
