Album of the Week: Stick Season

This has nothing to do with today's artist, even though he definitely seems to have risen to prominence with the help of TikTok. But I read a really interesting article the other day about the inevitable collapse of TikTok, and why that inevitability exists just like it did/does for Facebook, Twitter, et al. It made me kinda happy that we are tucked away here on a forgotten Blogspot website, unaffected by ads or corporate shareholders. Fingers crossed I'm not jinxing it by saying this. Don't worry—I create a backup copy of the blog pretty much every week. We'll be ready. It would just be a lot easier if we could stay like this forever, or at least until we reach Record Club Week 1000. That's all I'm saying.

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WEEK 239 — August 27-September 2, 2023

Stick Season

by Noah Kahan

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

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PICKED BY MAEVE

MAEVE'S COMMENTS: "A few weeks ago, I was hanging at my sister's pool with my friends Pat and Kathleen. They were in from Plymouth Meeting because they had a concert that night at The Mann. When I asked who it was, they said Noah Kahan, and I stared at them blankly. They said, "You definitely know who this is," and then started singing songs. I had nothing. Then Beth showed up, asking who they were seeing, and then proceeded to do the same thing to me, telling me I definitely knew his songs... still no. Finally, another friend of ours, Jeff, showed up and said that he'd just seen Noah perform at the Filmore last October for $35 and now he's performing for a sold out crowd at The Mann where tickets for THE LAWN were $150. Needless to say, Jeff did buy a last minute ticket, and when I met them at Bardot after the show, they said it was incredible.

I still haven't really heard any songs by him, but I'm curious! I feel like I'll probably love it? Apparently there was a song that was huge on TikTok, which is how I assume most of these people knew him? But I will say, as a non-TikTok girlie, after the conversation at the pool, he kept popping up on my Twitter feed. I haven't heard his music, but I do think he seems pretty charming, self-deprecating, and funny? This was also not not me at the Eras tour...

Also, according to friends and Twitter, he recently posted pics with Olivia Rodrigo, attended a bunch of Post Malone shows, worked with Jason Isbell, and lost his mind at the Eras tour. This feels like a good time to listen to an album that for all intents and purposes I should have been aware of, right?"

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ALBUM DETAILS

WARNING: There is an extended version of this album on streaming services called Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever), which has a bunch of bonus tracks and an extended runtime. No! Don't do it! At least not for Record Club! No deluxe versions here!

GENRE: folk pop, singer-songwriter, indie folk, Americana

RELEASED: October 14, 2022

LENGTH: 55:21

TRACKLIST:

1. Northern Attitude
   
2. Stick Season
3. All My Love
4. She Calls Me Back
5. Come Over
6. New Perspective
7. Everywhere, Everything
8. Orange Juice
9. Strawberry Wine
10. Growing Sideways
11. Halloween
12. Homesick
13. Still
14. The View Between Villages
    

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: he/him/his

ABOUT: Noah Kahan was born on January 1, 1997, in Strafford, Vermont. He's been signed to a label since he was 20, but was making music earlier than that; apparently he'd write songs and upload them to YouTube at age eight. He eventually deferred admission into college so that he could pursue music professionally (and to, according to a direct quote, "be verified on Instagram"). His star appears to be on the rise, with Stick Season being his most recent and most commercially successful album (peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200). He has described himself as—this again is a direct quote—the "Jewish Ed Sheeran."

DISCOGRAPHY: Stick Season is Kahan's third album, after 2021's I Was / I Am, and 2019's Busyhead. There were a couple EPs in 2018 and 2020, plus the aforementioned deluxe edition of Stick Season. So the man has put out a release every years since 2018.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: An interview with Songwriter Universe in 2022

WATCHING SOME SHIT: Kahan explains the title track to Genius.com

RECORD CLUB ON THE DAY THIS WAS RELEASED: There were a whole bunch of people reviewing Surface's Horizons, including Joe, Gary, Sam, Pam, Lamson, Drew A., Sunny, Dillon, Galia, Brian, and Stephan. We were also learning that Stephan had COVID.

PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: Maeve mentioned three RC artists in her comments above—Olivia Rodrigo, Post Malone, and Taylor Swift (the fourth, Jason Isbell, is not an RC alumnus, but his wife, Amanda Shires, is part of the Highwomen... also, Kahan has covered "If We Were Vampires" in the past, alert alert Pam are you reading this). Post Malone is also featured on a bonus track, "Dial Drunk."

Couple of other random RC pop artists that stood out in Kahan's bio: Dan Wilson worked with Noah Kahan and has written songs for Adele; Kahan cites Hozier as an influence; he has performed the title track on The Kelly Clarkson Show, but I couldn't find the video online, which is why it's not featured in the "WATCHING SOME SHIT" section above.

And then there's a few titles of songs that I recognized from other RC albums, since this is all I think about, apparently: "Halloween" is similar to Music with Gina's "Halloween Parade"; "Come Over" sounds like Shania Twain's Come On Over; "Strawberry Wine" is an alcoholic drink just like... actually, I don't know this one off the top of my head. Let's do some searching and see if we can build the Record Club liquor cabinet. Adele said "I Drink Wine," and Baroness drank "Chlorine & Wine." Magic Toaster ordered "whiskey at the club." EarthGang (ft. T-Pain!) did shots of "Tequila." That was all I could find using keywords, but maybe I'm missing something.

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!