You’d be hard pressed to find a Colby student who hasn’t at least heard the name Noah Kahan. He appeals not only because of his talent, which awarded him immense popularity after the release of his 2022 album Stick Season, but because the aches of growing up in the rural, bitter northeast are kind of his thing — and Mainers can relate. Last Friday, April 24, Kahan released a new album, The Great Divide, co-produced by Gabe Simon and Aaron Dessner, which follows a similar, grim thread. During a promotional interview on Jimmy Fallon, Kahan joked, “It’s pretty sad…If something’s going wrong in your life and it’s raining, I recommend [listening].”
It’s been four years since Kahan last released music. In response to this long hiatus, The Great Divide features an abundance of songs, totaling seventeen tracks on the originally released album, plus a surprise extra four on his deluxe edition, The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs. Of these songs, two were released in advance: “The Great Divide” and “Porch Light,” which debuted on Jan. 30 and March 13, respectively. “The Great Divide” is Kahan’s highest charting song, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100, according to reporting by Billboard magazine.
In connection with the new album’s release, Netflix issued Noah Kahan: Out of Body on April 13, a documentary which breaks down Kahan’s road to fame, his struggles with body dysmorphia, and his upbringing in Strafford, VT. Other promotional events include Kahan’s upcoming spot as musical guest on Saturday Night Live with host Matt Damon, scheduled for May 9, 2026.
Kahan’s newest album is a natural successor to Stick Season. While his previous releases propelled him to fame, first gaining recognition on TikTok and eventually garnering more mainstream acclaim for his eclectic indie, folk, and pop style, his newest album considers the consequences this expanding popularity brings. The album is about aging, changing, and coming to terms with these fluctuations, whether in regards to emerging celebrity — examined in songs like “Haircut” and “Porch Light” — the end of a relationship — which “Downfall,” “23,” and “Dashboard,” among others, all address — or the beginning of new era, chronicled in the lyrical entries of compositions such as “We Go Way Back” and “Spoiled.”
The record features Kahan’s typical acoustic and guitar-centric arrangements, but it is also layered with more instrumentation and vocalization than some of his previous tracks.
“I think this album is different from Stick Season in a lot of ways,” says one student. “It is still somber—depressing—but it also deals with a new age in [Kahan’s] life, [one that] still [focuses] on mental health and heartbreak, but in addition, growing up, getting married, and the prospect of raising a family.”
Another fan agrees, “I think it’s refreshing. The Great Divide remains a Noah Kahan classic stylistically, but it definitely appeals to a different phase in his life.”
With the release of his new 21-track extended album, Kahan prepares for an international stadium tour, stopping in cities across the United States and globally, including in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
~ Maya Corrie `29
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