Byoo byoo byoo byoo! Hi everyone, Byoothany Byootano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Noah Kahan album, The Great Divide.

Singer-songwriter, contemporary folk artist Noah Kahan, he is back with his long-anticipated follow-up record to his massive breakout Stick Season back from 2022, which peaked at #2 on the charts and pretty much made this guy a household name. As he continues to do really well commercially, inside and outside of the country sphere.

So, this guy exploded on TikTok during the pandemic, built up a ton of anticipation for the record that would be Stick Season, and in the four years since that album came out, Noah has done an expanded edition of the record, has been nominated for a Grammy, released his Live From Fenway Park album, got married in 2025, and had a Netflix documentary debut in 2026.

But after this incredibly successful run, it is now time for some new music, bringing us The Great Divide, which is Noah's fourth studio album, and was recorded everywhere from Nashville to New York, even in his home state of Vermont. Now, truth be told, you can look back at the review, I was not really crazy about Stick Season. I found a lot of this record to be sort of a drab take on all of these stale indie folkisms from over 10 years prior.

However, on this new one here, Noah saw fit to team up with songwriter and producer extraordinaire Aaron Dessner, who most definitely has connections to that scene given his time in the band, The National, and beyond. He's also, of course, known for helping Taylor Swift authentically capture this sound during her Folklore/Evermore era.

Regardless though, I still went into this record with high hopes given the incredible sales and reception this album has been getting so far. It's kind of expected to go number one, and it does seem like Noah is putting in the effort and making the connections necessary for releasing a better album this time around, even if the 70-plus minute runtime of this album is a bit daunting from the outset.

Still, in the grander scheme of things, I do find Noah to be a breath of fresh air when it comes to artists who appeal in that lane. So for sure, understand that a lot of my criticisms of Noah's work are relative. As far as songwriters go, you could do much worse.

But also, after listening to The Great Divide, I can't help but feel like Noah could do so much better, or at least make an album that was so much tighter. Because it's not like I'm saying this album is completely devoid of highlights. For sure, when it comes to the highs, on this album they are higher than ever. The issue is that sometimes these moments are lost in a sea of tracks they're shoulder to shoulder with that are nowhere near as interesting, sometimes due to Aaron Dessner just being so unadventurous and uninteresting as a producer at this point, just absolutely refusing to do anything new or interesting with his sound.

I mean, not to get too negative with this record off the bat, but there are moments where Dessner's moves are so predictable and devoid of imagination to the point where it feels like he's just giving poor Noah here the Folklore special. Like with the reverbed-out, softened acoustics and spare piano touches on "We Go Way Back," which of course finishes with this gutless, dreamy ambient outro that just melts into the overall vibes of this very washed-out album.

Look, even though every instrumental on the record isn't terrible for sure, the way this thing is produced is easily one of the most uninteresting qualities of it. And I think Aaron does put this record in a place where it's prematurely painted into a corner. But look, I can't completely lay the lack of a distinct vision at Aaron's feet on this record. Because Noah isn't exactly shy about dropping songs in this tracklist that sort of feel just transparently like a Bon Iver impersonation.

We get hints of that on the song "Downfall," falsettos and all. And in the process of chasing after this sound, I think Noah kind of neuters out of it anything that would make the original version compelling, and then ending up with something that's about as bold and daring as a Goo Goo Dolls ballad.

Now, while other cuts on this project don't feel like direct offshoots of any one thing, they're still kinda steeped in these Americana, Springsteen-isms that I would much rather hear someone like Jack Antonoff chase after, or Jason Isbell, Brandon Flowers of The Killers, for that matter. Whether it's on a track like "Doors" or "American Cars."

With all of that out of the way, though, I do think there are lots of tracks on this project where Aaron Dessner's very grandiose, over-the-top production, reverb-heavy, works. Or at least doesn't weigh down Noah's songwriting, which is so biting and passionate that you could kinda wrap it in anything and it would slap.

"Paid Time Off," for example, which after a gentle introduction goes into these lovely, quaint bars about burnt coffee and getting high at the outlet mall. It feels very Loudon Wainwright III or John Prine. It's just goofy, slice-of-life fun that says a lot about life and what we make of it. Just trying to enjoy these simple things in the midst of all of this strife and the obligations of our existence. I love the title track on this record, too, which was obviously a single, and I can tell given just how hard Noah is leaning into the hook on this one. We hear, like, several different variations of this chorus — slower, more stripped back. The groove has a lot of thrust to it, too. It's a very energetic and catchy highlight.

"Haircut" is another track I liked, and it's a moment where I really love the character portrait Noah puts together in the lyrics. I mean, not only does this story truly add to the title "The Great Divide," because you kinda have these two contrasting lives and perspectives, where one person who's kind of a burden, has sold out, is a dark cloud, a really unlikable presence. They're kind of at the top, but living their life for the wrong reasons. And this is contrasted with the perspective of somebody who very clearly is not living their best life, but still has their dignity intact. Very much feels like the song is trying to clock this person's BS, and sometimes Noah's righteous anger just hits really nice.

Case in point, the track "Dashboard" — another favorite for me here — where you can hear shouts of "Douche!" going out between different vocal lines. Loving "Deny Deny Deny" on this record for similar reasons. And then my next favorite on the record is also my last favorite, which would be "Headed North," a song that I do love for its songwriting, but also for the really dry acoustic recording and quality fingerpicking offered on this track.

And again, given just how prevalent Aaron's super washed-out production is, I feel like more songs could have afforded to go in this direction. Again, some milquetoast pop folk is fine, but this much of it is too much. Why not give us more tracks like this that have some real intimacy to them, and not only that but some banger opening lines? "Well, they finally caught the guys who blew up those two police cars / it was a couple of college kids who thought the town was dumb as rocks." Not to mention deeper lines like "If I see one more Cybertruck, I [swear to God] I'm gonna floor it."

Again, I do feel like Noah really upped his songwriting game on this one when it comes to the descriptions of, y'know, different dynamics between people on this thing, some of the funny asides and commentary that he's making.

It's just that unfortunately, while I know that Aaron is partial to this kind of washed-out indie folk sound with a super poppy edge, there are just too many cuts on this record going in that direction. Tracks that I think could have been either simplified or dried out a bit in terms of the overuse of effects, or just cut out completely in favor for an album that was just more direct and to the point.

It feels like Noah and his collaborators are making his fans do the work by digging through all of it to find which tracks are going to land on their playlists of choice, rather than making an album experience that you want to listen to from front to back. Which is why I'm feeling about a decent to strong 5 on this project.

Anthony Fantano. Noah Kahan. Forever.