Stick Season, Pat

Something was wrong as I listened to Stick Season. As the first track became the second, and the second the third, I found myself zoning out. I was not paying attention to this album, which I found strange. The folk/Americana genre is right up my alley, but Noah Kahan was not clicking with me. Instead of taking notes on songs, I started jotting down possible nicknames for my super insightful and articulate review.

It wasn't until about halfway through "All My Love" that I understood what my issue was. I saw my son playing in a sunbeam on the other side of the living room. With the song on in the background, my first thought was "This would be a cute reel on Instagram." Then it hit me: the album is playing to the algorithm, but not my algorithm. That's why I'm not getting it. 

Noah Kahan strikes me as a very savvy guy. He's been doing music since he first started uploading YouTube videos at age eight. If he grew up doing art on the internet, then he knows the artist cannot and should never fully be in control of what they produce. The key to success online is tailoring your content based on the audience's responses. I guess this has always been how art works to some degree, but now it's hypercharged like never before. Jason Pargin wrote a really fascinating article about it. 

There are thousands of singer-songwriters like Kahan out there, but only the few who are best at maximizing their engagement will stand out. Talent isn't enough anymore. There are no more Tom Hanks-in-Penguin-makeup talent scouts out there anymore, waiting to pluck artists from obscurity and turn them into superstars. New artists have to go viral. That's why Kahan puts so much effort into being charming online, getting his music out on TikTok, and being verified on Instagram. He understands how the game is played. 

I certainly don't think less of Kahan for doing this. Every successful creator does it. Donald Glover straight up thanked the algorithm when he won an Emmy. So I can respect what Kahan's doing while understanding that I'm probably not in the data set he's pulling from. If I had to guess the target audience Kahan is tailoring to, I'd say it's the aggressively sad Gen Z crowd. "Growing Sideways" alone is so chock full of SEO keywords that I'm on the fence about whether Kahan is parodying the way people on the internet fetish mental illness and treatment, or whether he's actually doing it. 

It's a shame this album hits an uncanny valley for me, because I do like parts of it. I love the line in "the intersection got a Target, and they're calling it downtown" in "New Perspective." As someone who grew up and lives in the gray zone between suburbs and farmland, I've seen that "development makes us fancy!" routine play out so many times. I also found myself bopping along to most of "Homesick." 

But too much of it just never interested me. The music is fine, but the lyrics are too generic. Stick Season ultimately comes across as a simulacrum of a folk album, hitting all the technical aspects without ever fully grasping the spirit. Maybe that's not fair, but it's how it feels to me. "Orange Juice" is just acoustic-ish "Say It Ain't So," and I still don't know what the fuck was happening on "Still." 

To sum it up, keep doing what you're doing, Noah Kahan. You seem good at it and it's working for you, even if it's not working for me.

Rating: 🍓🍓

2 out of 5 strawberry wines