Noah Kahan, an increasingly-popular pop/indie/folk singer and songwriter, released his newest album on October 14, 2022. The album, titled Stick Season, contains 14 tracks, or exactly 55 minutes and 28 seconds of what I believe to be some of this year’s best music.
To give some background, I’ve been a fan of Noah Kahan’s music since 2019, when his first album Busyhead was released. He has been my top artist on Spotify more than once, and I really resonate with his voice and lyricism. I’m from Maine, and his 2020 EP Cape Elizabeth only furthered my love for his music. Cape Elizabeth is a town in Maine about 30 minutes from where I grew up that I frequently travel to. I have family that lives there, and Crescent Beach State Park, my favorite beach, is both located in Cape Elizabeth and featured in the lyrics of his song “Maine.” Not only this, but his aunt is a Spanish teacher at my old high school. She actually taught my brother for a year, and it is forever my claim to fame.
Noah Kahan is not necessarily a household name, but he does attract almost 8,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. His song “Stick Season,” sharing the title of his new album, blew up on TikTok over the summer, which helped to promote the album. Kahan said in an interview with People that Stick Season is a “love letter to New England,” which made me alarmingly happy. I have learned to appreciate living in Maine so much more since coming to Ohio for college, so my New England pride runs deep. As a born and bred New-Englander, here is my take on Stick Season:
1. Northern Attitude
This was one of the tracks that Kahan released before the debut of the album, so I was able to listen to it in-depth before many of the other songs. I actually really resonate with this song because I find that sometimes people perceive New-Englanders to be self-contained or distant compared to those in other places, but that is just how people are raised. I am not a particularly outgoing person, but I simply prefer to keep to myself a lot of the time. Perhaps its a product of where I was raised, who knows. Overall I really love this song, but I have not been listening to it as frequently because its not as new to me anymore.
Rating: 8/10
Favorite lyrics “If I get too close, and I’m not how you hoped / Forgive my northern attitude, oh, I was raised out in the cold”
2. Stick Season
This was, again, a track that Kahan released ahead of the album. Because of this, it’s probably one of my least-favorite songs. I’ve found that I’ve overplayed it and so it doesn’t have the same effect on me that it did when I first listened to it. I’ll admit–that’s definitely my own fault. I still do enjoy the song, however, and I love how it’s reminiscent of coming home after being away for so long.
Rating: 7/10
Favorite lyrics: “And I’ll dream each night of some version of you / That I might not have, but I did not lose”
3. All My Love
This is one of my favorites on the album, simply because it perfectly combines feelings of nostalgia and lingering love. The song itself is upbeat like a pop song, but the heavy presence of acoustic guitar gives it a very “folksy” feel. The lyrics make you feel like reuniting with old friends and screaming out the window of a car, while simultaneously moving on from all of the drama that used to plague you as a teenager.
Rating: 9/10
Favorite lyrics: “Now I know your name / But not who you are / It’s all okay / There ain’t a drop of bad blood”
4. She Calls Me Back
I feel like this is one of the more upbeat songs on the album, despite the actual lyrics not being particularly uplifting. Most of Noah Kahan’s songs come off as love songs, which is definitely the case for this one. The words come off as lovesick but the drum in the background seriously makes you want to bust a move. Plus, singing the “822-933-167” part is SO fun.
Rating: 9/10
Favorite Lyrics: “This town’s the same as you left it / Your page was blank but I read it / I still dial 822-993-167”
5. Come Over
This song gives an incredibly nostalgic vibe, and the fact that Kahan references his own house on “Balch Street” feels particularly personal. This is definitely a mellow-toned song that seems reminiscent of growing up lonely and financially unsteady in New England. The only thing that seems to describe this song for me is being a pre-teen and sitting in front of my living room window to look out at a misty day with gray skies and heavy fog.
Rating: 8.5/10
Favorite Lyrics: “I’m in the business of losing your interest / And I turn a profit each time that we speak”
6. New Perspective
I really enjoy this song. I love the references to “liberal rednecks” and “attention deficit kids in their gym clothes”. Plus there’s a reference to Ohio in this New England song, so I feel obligated to like it (despite my lack of Ohio loyalism). The lyrics portray an inability or unwillingness to accept change, especially to a small New England town, which I can definitely relate to. Although my town is definitely not big enough to warrant having a Target, boujee establishments have replaced some of the little corner shops that I used to frequent as a kid.
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Lyrics: “The intersection got a Target / And they’re calling it downtown”
7. Everywhere, Everything
The acoustic guitar in this song is impeccable. I suddenly have the urge to pick up my dusty, $50 ukulele (my playing is incredibly mid) and learn the chords to this song. And yes, I recognize that a cheap ukulele isn’t going to make the same sound as an acoustic guitar, but it’s all I have at this point. The lyrics are so sweet, and I would simply melt if someone wrote this song about me, but they are slightly repetitive for my taste.
Rating: 7.5/10
Favorite Lyrics: “It’s been a long year / And all of our book’s pages dog-eared / We write out the ends on our palms, dear / Then forget to read”
8. Orange Juice
This song is honestly depressing, which I love. The lyrics depict a struggle with alcoholism, which I think is something that a lot of northerners can resonate with. The support illustrated in the song is very uplifting, and I enjoy how Kahan seems to be pleading with someone to come back, saying that there’s orange juice instead of alcohol at the house. This is slightly repetitive again, but still a great song.
Rating: 7/10
Favorite Lyrics: “See the graves as you pass through / From our crash back in ‘02”
9. Strawberry Wine
This is by-far the song that makes your heart melt the most. I’m serious: if someone wrote this song about me, I would actually marry them on the spot. I mean, the lyrics “I’m in love with every song you’ve ever heard”? Come on!!! Romance at its finest. And this song is also reminiscing on a lost love that he knows he will never get back, therefore combining love and sadness, which are literally my two favorite things.
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Lyrics: “No thing defines a man like love that makes him soft / And sentimental like a stranger in the park”
10. Growing Sideways
This song uses really powerful lyrics to render the story of someone who struggles with mental health and feels stagnant surrounded by people who seem to be growing as individuals. I also like how it includes some trend-relevant satire, seen in the lyrics: “Spent my savings at a Lulu / Now I’m suffering in style”. Overall a very solid song, and probably some of the best songwriting in the album.
Rating: 8/10
Favorite Lyrics: “And I divvied up my anger into thirty separate parts / Keep the bad shit in my liver, and the rest around my heart”
11. Halloween
Okay, this song 100% has the best lyrics out of the entire album. I’ll admit, this one took some time to grow on me, partly because it’s very slow, but I absolutely love it now. It’s a little spooky, which is very appropriate for the time of year, but it’s mostly a wonderfully-sentimental and lovelorn composition. It might not be incredibly noteworthy after the first listen, but I urge you to give it a chance (refer to favorite lyrics below to understand the hype).
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Lyrics: “It’s not Halloween, but the ghost you dressed up as sure knows how to haunt”
12. Homesick
This is definitely one of my top three favorite songs on the album. The lyrics perfectly capture how it feels to be both homesick and sick of your home, which is such a wonderful juxtaposition. I really relate to these lyrics because I love the town that I grew up in, but I was so eager to leave the state for college. Also, the lyrics: “Well, I’m tired of dirt roads / Named after high school friends’ grandfathers” really emulates a small-town feeling. Overall, this song is so powerful and makes me so nostalgic and it’s completely awesome.
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Lyrics: “I got dreams but I can’t make myself believe them / Spend the rest of my life with what could’ve been / I will die in the house I grew up in”
13. Still
Although this is a good song, it’s probably my least favorite song on the album. The chorus and the bridge strike me as too repetitive and not very exciting, even though the rest of the lyrics are beautifully-written. Don’t get me wrong: this is still a wonderful song, but it doesn’t stand out to me among the rest of the discography.
Rating: 6/10
Favorite Lyrics: “It only falls into place when you’re falling to pieces / You find love that lasts a while ’til you lose the reasons”
14. The View Between Villages
This is currently my absolute favorite song on the album, which also happens to be the final song. I can’t exactly articulate why this song speaks to me so much, but it literally causes my soul to transcend my body. It’s an extraordinary combination of sad and uplifting, and it’s physically impossible for me to listen to this song and not mouth the words with alarming passion. You will definitely catch me listening to this song on a constant loop because it’s perfect for any kind of mood.
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Lyrics: “The death of my dog / The stretch of my skin / It’s all washing me over, I’m angry again”
It’s honestly a shame that Stick Season was released at a time when so many fantastic artists put out new music, such as the new album from The 1975 Being Funny in a Foreign Language and Taylor Swift’s Midnights. The last thing Noah Kahan’s album deserves is to be overlooked, but I’m optimistic that his growing popularity will only have good things in store for his increasingly-successful music career. It even seems as though he is looking to be considered for some Grammy nominations this year, which would be absolutely fantastic. All-in-all, I can say with certainty Noah Kahan did us New-Englanders proud, and that Stick Season is definitely my favorite album of the year.