Stick Season (2022) – Noah Kahan (Alex and Jo Music)

You tube’s best kept secret female duo ‘Alex and Jo‘ are back again to treat us with their lovely version of Noah Kahan’s big hit Stick Season. Today’s featured song marks the sixth occasion the Serbian twins have appeared here with their last entry being I’ll Be Home For Christmas (No 9 on the Christmas countdown this past season). How they haven’t already been discovered by a mega fancy music / tv producer to grace one of these big talent shows is anyone’s guess. Heck, if Christina Perri had heard their rendition of her magnificent Back in Time she of all people would be the first to sing their praises.

Through their channel, I’ve discovered mostly new music including Stick Season that I might never have come across otherwise, and for that, I’m grateful. Their soothing voices and homely presence always put me in a good head space. It’s simply a privilege to be welcomed into their musical sanctuary and witness them immerse themselves in a song.

Stick Season is the title track of the 2022 album by Noah Kahan (image inset). He wrote the album in the woods of Vermont where he grew up. With the success of Stick Season, Kahan toured around the United States and Europe with a majority of his shows sold out. Going by the lyrics alone Stick Season is indeed a very relatable song since it balances a mixture of pain, optimism, and healing. I can see how it would appeal to lovers of pop, indie, and folk music.  Also people who live in small towns like in New England can relate to the hardships on the record such as leaving your hometown, losing childhood dogs, and divorced parents.

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia reference below:

The song title refers to a term for autumn in New England, the period after Halloween before the winter snow begins, which Kahan called “a time of transition” and “super depressing” as “it just means that winter is coming soon and it creates a lot of anxiety” and “nobody really likes it“.

The song went viral on TikTok and charted internationally after American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo covered it on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, causing it to reach number one in various countries including Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, as well as charting in the top 10 in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

[Verse 1]
As you promised me that I was more than all the miles combined
You must’ve had yourself a change of heart like halfway through the drive
Because your voice trailed off exactly as you passed my exit sign
Kept on drivin’ straight and left our future to the right
Now I am stuck between my anger and the blame that I can’t face
And memories are somethin’ even smoking weed does not replace
And I am terrified of weather ’cause I see you when it rains
Doc told me to travel, but there’s Covid on the planes

[Chorus]
And I love Vermont, but it’s the season of the sticks
And I saw your mom, she forgot that I existed
And it’s half my fault, but I just like to play the victim
I’ll drink alcohol ’til my friends come home for Christmas
And I’ll dream each night of some version of you
That I might not have, but I did not lose
Now you’re tire tracks and one pair of shoes
And I’m split in half, but that’ll have to do

[Verse 2]
So I thought that if I piled something good on all my bad
That I could cancel out the darkness I inherited from Dad
No, I am no longer funny ’cause I miss the way you laugh
You once called me “forever,” now you still can’t call me back

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Oh, that’ll have to do
My other half was you
I hope this pain’s just passin’ through
But I doubt it

References:
1. The Story Behind The “Stick Season” Grammy Nominated Singer, Noah Kahan – Rampage
2. Stick Season (song) – Wikipedia