Town Hall by Noah Kahan: Stick Season Collaborations // 2024 Record Store Day Black Friday vinyl
Happy Record Store Day! To celebrate one of the biggest events of the year for independent record stores, Noah Kahan released a special vinyl EP titled Town Hall: Stick Season Collaborations. It is a limited edition vinyl that features eight of the bonus tracks from his 2022 album Stick Season, each reimagined two years following it's initial release as duets with different collaborators.
This is the first time it is released as a standalone EP on vinyl, previously it was only ever featured on the deluxe pressing of the complete edition of Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever). Town Hall is limited to 15,000 copies and was sold exclusively at indie record stores on Black Friday. It is pressed on what they described as "tiger eye brown", which looks like a beautiful translucent ember brown with black swirl. It perfectly suits the earthy aesthetic of the album artwork. It also comes with a really nice photo insert too, which is designed to look like a newspaper bulletin.
Noah is an artist that I discovered earlier this year, right away I fell in love with his style of songwriting and the world he creates within his music. It is so honest and specific, as he fully immerses the listener into the story he is telling. I always find myself returning to his music around this time of year as it gets cold and dreary outside. It's exactly what this music was made for and I love having it be the soundtrack for those cold winter nights. Much of these songs he started writing in the early days of the pandemic, during a period of deep introspection and self-discovery.
I love when remix albums like these feel so intentional and the artist that is added to the song only further enhances the original. This release is so well done and masterfully curated to include the absolute perfect artist for each song. The collaborations from Stick Season are what first introduced me to Noah's music and many are still among my very favorites in his discography. I'm so happy to have this in my record collection, I love every single one so much.
One of the highlights on this record is "She Calls Me Back" featuring one of my favorite artists ever, Kacey Musgraves. I have always found so much comfort in Kacey's music and she fits on this song so well. Their music evokes very similar feelings and emotions in me, so hearing them collaborate is so perfect. This reimagined version of the song features an entirely new verse from Kacey, which adds a new opposing perspective of the story being told on the original solo version.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Noah opened up about how this collaboration came about and how Kacey's ethos as an artist went on to define much of Stick Season. "When we finished making the record, I was listening back and there were several songs that I was like, 'Can you imagine someone like Kacey singing this?' She's so original and not defined by genre," he said. "Golden Hour was so cool and wide-ranging in the inspirations and sounds she was using. With Stick Season we went into it thinking we didn’t want to be defined by a certain genre. Obviously, it leans more folk, but there are elements of country, pop, singer-songwriter, and alternative there. An artist like Kacey represents everything we were striving for when making the record".
An artist that also does such an incredible job at continuously blurring genre lines is Post Malone. He is much like Noah and Kacey in that way. He features on the very first song of this EP called "Dial Drunk", which was also the first of these songs to be released and went on to become a massive hit. It is so catchy and highlights all of the best parts of their artistry. I also love the added verse and honestly, it's the best song Post has released since making the full transition into more of a country/folk sound.
I also loved being exposed to new artists through this collection of songs. If I remember correctly, "Everywhere, Everything" was my first introduction to Gracie Abrams' music. She's an artist whose work I have really enjoyed diving into over the past year and her collaboration with Noah is still one of my favorites. His work with Brandi Carlile on "You're Gonna Go Far" and Gregory Alan Isakov on the final song "Paul Revere" are also so beautiful as well.
As a songwriter, Noah is known for his authenticity and emotional depth explored in every song. "Call Your Mom" is one of the heaviest moments of Stick Season, detailing a loved one going through a hard time in life and struggling with their mental health. A lyric that has always stood out to me is "all lights turned off can be turned on". He collaborated with Lizzy McAlpine for Town Hall to reimagine the song - they both deliver such an intensely emotional performance; it gives me chills every time I listen to it.
The heart of Stick Season for me, especially out of all these collaborations, is undoubtedly "Northern Attitude". I love how Noah's music is very rooted in his home state of Vermont and his time growing up in a small town. He always finds a way to incorporate his home into his music in a way that is very personal to his own life, but innately relatable to the listener at the same time. The specificity of which he writes and shares his experiences is something that really sets him apart from many other artists. The Town Hall version of "Northern Attitude" features another distinct voice in folk music, Hozier. He was the perfect addition to this song and I can't even imagine a version of "Northern Attitude" without him on it now. Out of every collaboration on Town Hall, all of which I love, this is the track that far exceeds the original version for me. They sound incredible together and it's clear how special this was for both of them. Their harmonies at the end are stunning, it is such a powerful and emotive moment of this record. "If I get too close and I'm not how you hoped, forgive my northern attitude, oh, I was raised out in the cold," they sing together, "If the sun don't rise 'til the summertime, forgive my northern attitude, oh, I was raised on little light".
"Homesick" is also a defining song from this record too, as he and Sam Fender reflect back on their experiences growing up and the dreams they had when they were younger. "I would leave if only I could find a reason," they sing in the chorus, "I got dreams, but I can't make myself believe them, spend the rest of my life with what could have been". They simultaneously wish they could escape it where they're from - Noah from Vermont and Sam from England - but no matter what, they will always have a deep connection to their hometowns. It really is such a universal feeling that I never heard described into a song before. For better or worse, where you're from is something that will forever be a part of your identity. I also love how they blended their individual indie-rock and folk influences into the reimagined version of "Homesick". "I loved the idea of the song being a transatlantic call-and-response between two young kids desperate to escape their hometowns," Sam Fender said in an interview with People Magazine. "Chatting with him about things in both of our pasts made me realize how universal 'Homesick' is. We've all been that kid."
This is the second vinyl in my Noah Kahan collection, the first I bought earlier this year in April at Record Store Day, which was the "Stick Season" x "Lacy" covers he and Olivia Rodrigo did with each other's songs at the BBC. I would love for them to release a "Stick Season" duet one day, it would have worked really well with this release. Hopefully one day they collaborate again in some capacity because they would sound so great together! If you're interested in reading more about that vinyl, check out my full review here.
Thanks for reading! Record Store Day was so much fun this year, my dad and I had such a great time visiting all of the local record stores in the area. This year also marks exactly ten years since I went to my first Record Store Day, when I got my very first vinyl on Black Friday in 2014. It has been such a fun tradition that we look forward to going to twice a year! If you would like to read more about the other exclusive records I picked up this year, check out my review of Billie Eilish's isolated vocal version of HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, as well as Djo's DECIDE. Check out my other Record Store Day posts from previous events here & more vinyl posts are linked below.
Make sure to support your local record stores and shop small when you can!
All photos are my own!
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