'Stick Season'

Last Friday, Noah Kahan released his newest album, ‘Stick Season’. Featuring 14 tracks, the album became highly anticipated as it gained TikTok fame.

Noah Kahan began releasing music in 2017, when he joined Republic Records. His music style of a ‘folk-infused pop’ has led him to releasing 3 albums, 2 EP’s, and many singles. Kahan’s music centers around places and feelings in New England, while reminiscing on past emotions and relationships.

This album sums up the feeling of missing home, while being sick of it. Growing up in Vermont allowed for him to really connect with things like fall and the cold surrounding it. The album is named after the song on it called ‘Stick Season’. The name comes from the time in New England in between fall and winter. It’s the spot before snow but when the trees are still bare after losing their leaves. The time is upsetting and overall a time of transition, which is what the songs in this album are made off of.

Throughout the tracklist, there are many songs devoted to past love, mental health, and the want to leave home. Songs like ‘She Calls Me Back’, ‘Strawberry Wine’, and ‘All My Love’ touch on the feelings of loving someone and ultimately losing touch with them. The title track itself, ‘Stick Season’, ‘Growing Sideways’, and ‘Orange Juice’ all go back to issues with mental health. These talk about inner darkness and going to therapy. In ‘Orange Juice’, he references the pain of a friend’s alcohol addiction.

The album closes out with ‘The View Between Villages’. After listening to the album, it’s clear why this was the last song. It encapsulates the feeling of waking up and replaying your life over again. He talks about his core memories and different people he knew and lost, ending the album wrapped up and complete with his story.

While every song and listener is different, this album and its messages should at least be heard once. Fall has come here on campus, and now we have new music to come with it.

Resource: Elle Muller | 10/17/22 2:00am, and Arianna Stamatoyannopoulos / The Dartmouth. “Review: Noah Kahan's 'Stick Season' Beautifully Captures the Complexities of Homesickness.” The Dartmouth, 17 Oct. 2022, https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/10/stick-season-review