If you frequent TikTok, you may have heard of the song “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan. The song was teased for several weeks on the Kahan’s TikTok page, which people seemed to love, and was finally released in July. The public instantly fell in love with the song, making it go viral and garnering 45 million listeners on Spotify alone. So when Noah Kahan announced that following his viral single, he was going to release an entire album with music similar to “Stick Season,” old and new fans were ecstatic. Kahan calls this his love letter to New England. One listen to this album and I instantly knew that something about this album makes me think of fall. Most of the album is sung to Kahan’s folksy guitar playing which adds that really cool rustic and acoustic feel to the album, making it in my opinion the perfect fall album. While I believe every song on the album is a masterpiece and lyrically captivating, here are three of my favorites!
1. “Stick season”
I know, obvious first choice! But, this was the song that quite literally set the tone for the rest of the album. The song paints the picture of Vermont as the leaves start to change color, the air is crisp and the ground is covered in sticks. The song is supposed to be a metaphor for a relationship ending and moving onto a different chapter in one’s life just as the weather changes from sunny skies to rain and snow central. While the seasons changing isn’t always a pleasant experience, it is a necessary one just like certain hardships in life. As the leaves have started to change, this song has quickly become a song that my friends and I love to scream our lungs to during car rides. If you still haven’t heard the song yet, what are you waiting for?!
2. “Northern attitude”
This song was the second single he released before the album came out, and I don’t have a single bad thing to say about it. While it keeps to the same tone and style as “Stick Season,” this song lyrically feels like a journal entry. Kahan seems to touch on aspects of his life such as isolation as a kid, and anger towards his small town, and even alludes to generational trauma that might have impacted his younger years. I think this song pulls on certain strings in my heart that make me understand where he is coming from and hence why I love it so much!
3. “all my love”
Noah Kahan tweeted earlier this year that “All My Love” was his favorite song on the album and I totally understand why! Accompanying Kahan’s beautiful vocals and stripped-back guitar acoustics is the sweet sound of a mandolin — as if this album wasn’t musically great enough. Lyrically this song is one of the best too and it is definitely going to be on repeat on my playlist for a while!
While I do love every song on this album, I cannot possibly list out my reasons for all of them so here are some honorary mentions:
- Still
- Strawberry Wine
- Orange Juice
- Homesick
- The View Between Villages
There are 14 tracks on this album, and the storytelling and lyrics in each of those songs are purely incredible. He forces us to see the beauty in change just like the leaves as they turn crimson. Fall and the coming of winter can be seen as depressing times, but Kahan wants to embrace that ugliness and see the beauty that can come out of it. He stresses the importance of needing that harsh transition in order to move on to better and prettier things — aka spring! There is a song for every emotion you might feel while we go through fall and await winter and hence I think this is the perfect album to have on repeat. I hope you love and appreciate this album like I do! Happy listening!
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