Three years after the breakout success of “Stick Season,” folk singer Noah Kahan released his fourth studio album “The Great Divide” on April 24. It carries the essence of his previous albums, while having so much more personal anecdotes.
From the first song, “End of August,” the album is an emotional trip. Starting off with stillness before soft piano notes hit listeners’ ears, the song feels like a light breeze in summer and just being in a moment of serenity. Hence the title, the song truly feels like the end of summer, it is calm and gentle while being heart-wrenching simultaneously. The song pulls you in straight away and is the perfect introduction for the rest of the album.
An immediate highlight on the album is “Downfall.” The song describes the feeling of missing someone who is leaving and trying not to resent them for doing so. It follows the narrator, who is hoping for the downfall of this person so they are forced to come back together. The song is emotionally heavy with lyrics like “I’ll be keepin’ the house the way it was / I won’t rub your face in it / I swear I won’t tell anyone / I don’t mind being your dead end / I think it’s fine to never move on.” Despite being so emotionally charged and vulnerable, it is incredibly relatable. It is hard to let go of those one loves and secretly, everyone wishes they could convince someone to stay – and this song is the perfect representation of that.
Other highlights on the album include “The Great Divide,” 23” and “Dan.” “The Great Divide” was released on Jan. 30 as the album’s title track and perfectly wraps the album into an emotional, heart-wrenching bow. It reflects on past relationships when one realizes how little they know about the person they spent time with. At its core, it’s about loving someone but not being able to truly understand them. It is about guilt for not seeing someone’s true self and avoiding the difficult conversations that could have helped said person. Ignorance is bliss, until you don’t see those you love. “23” is about the narrator’s estranged relationship with their sibling suffering from addiction. The narrator is frozen in time, forever in that image of being younger with their siblings before everything changed. It looks at grief in a way that the narrator doesn’t want their sibling to return so they can forever preserve this idea of them as innocent and young, rather than who they have become. Finally, “Dan” is the last song on the album and is incredibly bittersweet. It describes spending time with an old friend, who at their core knows you better than anyone else. The song is a tear jerker – it feels like taking in a moment with a friend, and realizing they are all someone could ever need in life. It describes the desire to live in that moment forever, all because of the love one has for their friend.
However, the absolute best song on the album is “Willing and Able.” By the first verse, it is hard to not be crying one’s eyes out listening to it – it is a true stab to the heart. It captures the feeling of a tense familial relationship with such relatability and vulnerability it is sickening. Lyrics like “I wish I could know you / wish I could do nothing with you / sit in the yard while the day dies/ say I love you and mean it this time” make this song the most relatable one on the album. It shows that sometimes, the ones we oppose the most, are those we are supposed to love the most.
From the opening notes of “End of August” to the closing notes of “Dan,” this album is everything. “The Great Divide” is raw, vulnerable and incredibly relatable for every listener. The simplicity and honesty make it such a beautiful album – and some of Kahan’s best work. However, if a therapy session can’t be scheduled post-listen – maybe skip out on listening.