Noah Kahan‘s career and life trajectory changed forever following the release of his 2022 album, Stick Season. Now, the Vermont native has shared the title track from his buzzed-about full-length follow-up, due out April 24 via Mercury Records.
Released on Jan. 30, “The Great Divide” delivers all the creative elements that elevated Kahan from a seasoned but lesser-known singer-songwriter to one of the most commercially successful new artists across any genre. His vocals are clear and emotive yet never overpolished, thanks in part to the work of returning Stick Season producer Gabe Simon. Lyrically, he delivers a raw, honest examination of the complicated feelings that can bubble up from the past as time seems to pass by faster each day.
“I hope you settle down, I hope you marry rich / I hope you’re scared of only ordinary shit / Like murderers and ghosts and cancer on your skin / And not your soul, and what he might do with it.”
The track is both emotionally charged and infectious, easily luring the listener to tap along to the song’s rapid percussive heartbeat. It also serves as a preview of some of the difficult themes Kahan explores on the record, which finds the 29-year-old at a time in life when some important life lessons blossom out of the oftentimes messy process of looking backwards.
From the dynamic shift of relationships with longtime friends, the pain of distance felt from loved ones, and the discomfort of facing your own shortcomings or mistakes made along the way, Kahan looks to spotlight how taking time to acknowledge your past can sometimes be the only way to continue down the path you’ve been seeking.
“The last five years have been the single most challenging, complicatedly beautiful, and life-altering of my career. I was somewhere I understood, and suddenly I was somewhere completely foreign,” Noah Kahan shares in a statement. “I was living in the opportunity I always wanted, but felt disoriented and unsure of whether I deserved it. Writing for this album was a balancing act of trying to go back in time and move forward in the same moment. Songwriting has always been the way I reflect on my life, and I hope these songs show you a glimpse of what this journey has looked like.”
Along with a fresh perspective, Kahan also opted to evolve and expand his creative team. The National’s Aaron Dessner, best known for his production work on Taylor Swift‘s acclaimed records Folklore, Evermore, and The Tortured Poets Department, was recruited as co-producer for the record. And while Dessner’s creative collaboration with Swift marked the beginning of a sonic shift for the pop star, his musical perspective already seems like a natural fit alongside the soundscapes previously molded by Kahan and Simon.
Although we’ll have to wait until April 24, when The Great Divide officially drops, to hear if their creative partnership results in a sonically cohesive record, Noah Kahan seems poised for another pivotal and successful chapter in his still-early career.
Listen to “The Great Divide” below:
