NOAH KAHAN - THE GREAT DIVIDE
It’s been three years since the mainstream folk/stomp and holler revival of Summer 2023 that highlighted names such as Gregory Alan Isakov, The Paper Kites, Caamp, Zach Bryan, and several others. It’s also been some time, around two years, since singer/songwriter Noah Kahan released any new material. Kahan is credited to be one of the driving forces of the aforementioned folk revival of Summer 2023, mostly because of his October 2022 album Stick Season that blew up months after its release. Known for his devastating songwriting, his comical nature as a performer, his origins in Vermont, and his collaborations with big names such as Hozier, Post Malone, Lizzy McAlpine, Gracie Abrams, Brandi Carlile, and others, Kahan has spent his time between the release of 2024’s extended Stick Season (Forever) and now by touring and evidently, writing and recording in the studio. On January 31st, he formally ended his hiatus with The Great Divide, his newest single.
The Great Divide opens up with a spritely, warm guitar tracking similar to Peach Pit’s style on their 2025 album Magpie. It’s juxtaposed by the mournful attitude present in Kahan’s vocals, which serve as the main aspect of the track’s sound. The lyricism is gloomy with a hopeful and almost grateful edge, focusing on both the emotional and physical distance between Kahan and his past that formed after his initial rise to fame. He reflects on a connection with an old friend, hinting at the idea that this friend had religious traumas or perhaps psychosis that formed a rift within the friendship. This is indicated through lines such as “You know I think about you all the time and my deep misunderstanding of your life and how bad it must have been for you back then and how hard it was to keep it all inside. 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” and “I hope you threw a brick right into that stained glass. I hope you’re with someone who isn’t scared to ask. I hope that you’re not losing sleep about what’s next…”.
Kahan takes a more pop-forward approach to The Great Divide rather than the folky one that was present in Stick Season. It isn’t pop in the soulless, repetitive, sense but rather the catchy and relatable one. With a passionate inflection similar to that of Hey, Nothing’s, Kahan nails the delivery of such a sad but common situation that many young adults find themselves in as they grow up and away from the people they once called friends and family. The Great Divide is not only a song but a promise of what’s to come: a promise of intensity, emotion, truth, and vulnerability in a time where it’s needed most.
After the release of The Great Divide, listeners can presave Noah Kahan’s upcoming album named after this new single, The Great Divide. The album is set to release on April 24th. Furthermore, the official music video for The Great Divide is scheduled to drop this Sunday, February 1st.