Latest / The Tortured Fans Department / Ep. 47 - 'The Great Divide' - Noah Kahan (Album Review)

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Ep. 47 - 'The Great Divide' - Noah Kahan (Album Review) · The Tortured Fans Department

• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Tortured Fans Department Podcast.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Sean Boyle, and joining me today is Mr.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan Amade.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan, how are you?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to uh chatting some new music again.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is like becoming a very regular thing, which I love talking music with you, Sean.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't agree more.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: As you can tell by the episode title, by the cover art, we have an album review.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is Noah Khan's The Great Divide, The Last of the Bugs.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about both.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of a double album.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: He added a few tracks after the initial release.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna dive into all of it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the best place to start, Ryan, where we always start.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: What is your familiarity with this artist?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a big Noah Khan fan?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: How familiar are you with his body of work?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I am vaguely familiar.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you I'm this Noah Kon like mega fan by any means.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of the tunes from Stick Season, but before that, I'd not a whole lot.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know that was kind of his breakout album.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um For me, he teeters on the border of like too folksy singer-songwriter-y, not musically interesting enough for me, but there are a lot of tunes that I like.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I'm not gonna like I don't completely write him off by any means.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I completely respect him as a songwriter, as a lyricist, as a storyteller.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, there's even some musically interesting things, but uh not quite in my like regular rotation by any means, although we'll get to it.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: There are gonna be some songs on this album that will be.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, that's kind of my my background, my familiarity.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're a much, much bigger fan.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I again this for listeners who are just tuning in for the first time, we do these episodes and we always provide the context of our listening profiles.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're very similar in a lot of the music we like.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: One of the big differences between us is I tend to lean more towards the singer-songwriter-lyricist type, and Ryan tends to skid more towards the music and how it sounds instrumentally.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the only slight difference in our profiles.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of overlap.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am a big Noah Khan fan.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Dating back to the Cape Elizabeth EP is when I first became aware of him.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed I enjoyed the song Main from that quite a bit, immediately added it, but didn't really think much of it, didn't dive deep into his profile.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then obviously Stick Season came out and then he became a household name for everybody, and it took my fandom along with a lot of others to a new level.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, going into this album, I was a bit worried about what we would get because there's been such a long gap between albums being released.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's hard when you're a guy like Noah Khan, who uh, as you said, it's very singer-songwriter-y and he has a very distinct voice.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It can wear on you a bit, especially if there's not a ton of new music.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you almost get sick of him, and it's because he's a victim of his own success in a way, because the music's so good you want to keep listening to it and listening to him, but when there's not a ton of range instrumentally or a ton of difference in the songs, and he has that distinct voice, I could see it becoming a bit uh tired.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I was very worried about how this album would sound and would it be fresh enough in a way to keep the listeners engaged into something new.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to report I think there is enough nuance in this one, but that's one of the hardest things for artists to do.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times the great artists are the ones that are able to just tweak their sound a little bit and get a little bit better each album, and only the great ones can do that.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was hoping to see that from Noah, and I think I did.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll say this too.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a really good point.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And with his more popular tunes, like you think of Stick Season in particular, the lyrics are very like poignant, as well as his voice, to where if you overplay it, it can get like, oh, okay, this is like the you kind of hit a point of of no return where you're like, oh wait, do I actually like this anymore?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because the it's really a delicate balance with him, and that the same thing continues on this album, which we'll get to, but like there's a lot of really poignant lyrics and like even just some like some like cussing in places that just feels kind of weird, and like the if you're not careful, it could be like okay, this is a little bit overkill.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I know exactly what you're talking about, um, and and we'll we'll get into each it's kind of song by song and talk through that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's well said too.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He puts you in the exact moment that he's feeling, and he's very good at relating that emotion in his songs through his voice, through his lyrics.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's similar to Taylor Swift and what she does.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: The thing with Taylor Swift is she's just been such a monster at cranking out albums and nude work, and she's blended genres and changed genres, so it's all felt fresh and different throughout her career.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: With Noah, we just don't have enough of that body of work yet to be able to go back and say, Oh, look at this whole discography.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's so there, this is this, or this album sounds like that, and there's a bit of uniqueness between them.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't have that yet, but he's still very young in his career.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's why there was so much anticipation for this album.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you some background, Ryan, as we like to do here.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Give it to me.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: This one was once again produced by Aaron Desner.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's the man of the album.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's the man of the He we did the Mumford and Sons Prize Fighter album review.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: He had his fingerprints all over that one.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I will say he did not play as big of a role in this one as Gabe Simon, who also produced Stick Season for Noah.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the three main producers on this album are Noah Khan himself, Gabe Simon, and Aaron Desner.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: According to Noah, the album was written and recorded, quote, next to a piano in Nashville, next to a pond in Vermont, in a legendary studio in upstate New York, and on a farm in Tennessee.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Very interesting variety of places there.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Gold Pacific Studio is the studio they used in Nashville, but the primary place this album was recorded was, of course, Long Pond Studio, which is Destner's studio in upstate New York.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is, if I were to be a fly on the wall in anywhere in the United States, forget the White House, I'm going Long Pond Studios.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's right up in the valley.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm looking for.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's where Folklore Nevermore came from.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's where Gracie's Good Riddance and The Secret of Us came from.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Ed Sheeran Subtract.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, seriously, uh, it's an exclusive club of elite music at Long Pond.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this one fits right in that mix.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, the only other thing I wanted to point out about the background of the album, Gabe Simon's primary claim to fame is really stick season.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: He has also worked with Dua Lipa, Juana Del Rey, and Anderson Pack, amongst some others.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: But really, when you look up Gabe Simon's body of work, a lot of it points to stick season with Noah.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Those are very different uh styles from Noah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Anderson Pack, like Anderson Pack couldn't be more different.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also say this: you mentioned uh Vermont, New York, Nashville.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's good that um they're all East Coast places, according to our good friend Jeremy.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great reference to our draft podcast.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: All of the East Coast, Central Time Zone, Nashville.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about our initial reaction to the album.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: We listened to it for the first time.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: What did we immediately think?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, um, kind of like we talked about, I think from an overarching like big picture thing, it's it's hard to differentiate some of the songs.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think you kind of get there, there's some some portions of the album where you kind of feel like you're stuck in mud a little bit, where it's like two, three songs that all like kind of sound the same, and it's hard to differentiate, and you're like, I can't tell if this is good.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for me, I left feeling like, all right, I need to like digest it again, which you told me before going into it, in fairness.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: You told me it's a lot to digest.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I have listened to it multiple times at this point, and I will say I have appreciated it a ton more on the additional listens.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do I still think there's some repetitiveness in some songs that I'm not a huge fan of?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but I have a deeper appreciation for the ones that don't fit that category, and I think there are some like very, very good songs that will be in my rotation moving forward, which is how I judge an album.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, are there songs I will go back to for the rest of time, for the rest of my life?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's what music is about.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, there are some on this album.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um, that's where I've kind of landed big picture, I think.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I'm not too dissimilar from what you just said.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I did text you ahead of time because I listened to it before you did.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I think I know how you're gonna feel about this one, and we'll get into exactly what your lasting impressions will be, but I think I was pretty accurate and you were.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I thought.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I honestly felt the same in terms of it being just a bit difficult to chew.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was a food that tasted really good, my first few bites, but then you you know, I was just chewing on it for a little bit longer than I expected.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, when's this gonna go down?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a point in the album where I kind of was like blacked out, like, hey, I just heard this song and I didn't hear it yet, but it sounded like I had.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's where a singer-songwriter, as we mentioned, that doesn't have a ton of diverse instrumentation throughout.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's where they run into issues, especially with long albums.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to have some repetitiveness.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: I will say though, I listened to it the first time, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: There was a few that stood out, especially in the beginning and end.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that was just a listener flaw.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I don't have the attention span that I wanted to add.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say there was a few that stood out.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed it, and then the same with you, it's grown on me each additional listen.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I found more songs to add to the ones that I'll go back to.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I found more little nuances that I liked in some of the songs.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to dive into them with you.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna do the track by track breakdown we traditionally do because I am fearful that we have a podcast longer than the album itself, which nobody cares about us talking.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, disrespectful.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'd rather you go listen to the album itself.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go in track list order.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if we have one that stands out to us, we're gonna talk about it immediately.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: The first song is end of August, and I need to talk about this one.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I will also be pointing out my top five songs as we make our way through the album.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if one falls in my top five, I will point it out.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: End of August checks in at number two for me.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love this song.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I can't get enough of it.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a beautiful, not only introduction to an album, but just a beautiful song.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: The ambient sound in the beginning with the crickets, and then a moment for the piano, which is a real departure from what we've seen from Noah in the past.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's typically not a Noah Khan sounding song.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: The layering of the vocals is brilliant, and then it builds to this incredible melody, and it just has a bit of everything in it.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Songs that have tons of different elements, I am a fan of because they just have all these components, and it almost feels like a short film is playing throughout.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to see the music video for this, but I feel like the song itself could tell a story, and that just can that keeps me engaged not only the first time I listen to it, but the hundredth time I listen to it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm all in on end of August.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm interested to hear what you think.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's uh it's a really good analysis, and I agree with most of it.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where I would maybe depart is that I don't I don't see it as much as a standalone tune that I will go back to.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I see it as a really, really good opener to an album that has this kind of tone to it, starting from the cricket, you know, outdoorsy kind of vibe, like kind of uh gradually leaning in, getting building, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like really great in the context of the album, in my opinion.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um but to me, it's not like a oh, add to my rotation kind of song because I think the context is important to it in a way that maybe you would disagree.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you see it as a better standalone song.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: For me personally, it's not one that I'm gonna be like adding to my playlists and going back to.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: But in the scheme of going back to listening to the whole album, awesome, beautiful artwork that starts the starts it on the right track.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a fair point.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the flaws in maybe how I listen to music, it's almost 90% of the time I'm putting on an album.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess that for me, I would lend myself to liking this song more than you would.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then again, there are times where you certainly just put on a playlist and you just want similar songs that sound good and occupy time, and that may be a bit different in terms of how I would score this one amongst the the best of the album.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think it stands alone enough, but I get your point completely because a lot of times what artists do is they just put an intro track on there, which is 40 seconds, and it kind of sets the tone for the album.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then the reason they do that is that you're able to then go to the second song on the album and it stands as a standalone song.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the structure of that from an artist's point of view, it makes sense.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I commend Noah for doing it this way and giving us a full-bodied art experience with the first track.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'll say this, I respect uh the way that you listen to music.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I have Spotify brain, maybe I just need to start start listening to more full albums outside of when I'm analyzing them for uh reviews.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a trend of mine over the last few years of how I started listening to just albums first.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: I will say my goal and your goal of listening to 50 albums this year certainly aids that because every time I'm like, well, if I'm gonna listen to music, I might as well just put on an album I haven't heard.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: That itself to that as well.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Killing it.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Listeners, you're you're gonna be so proud of us.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're getting our steps in too.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: The second track is Doors.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we're gonna spend much time on this one.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: This was just kind of a nice song, it didn't blow either of us away.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of those that maybe leads itself to some redundancy throughout the album.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we're gonna transition right to American Cars, which is the third track, and I'll let you talk about it first, but I think it's safe to say we're both pretty big fans of this one.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I when I logged into I don't know, YouTube last week prior to the album coming out, I saw the tiny desk instant, instantly clicked.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is the first song on the tiny desk, and I was blown away.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it on the tiny desk.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I thought the arrangement was awesome, the instrumentation was awesome.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I instantly went to go find it because I, to be honest, wasn't sure if it was on one of the former albums.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't, it wasn't even released yet.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so that built up the anticipation, and I think the album version delivers.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm usually gonna prefer live versions of songs, you know, that's just my personality.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I do think the album version delivered.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it feels like uh it's like the perfect like sunny day road trip kind of song.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Easy add to my summer playlist, easy add to my go-to playlist.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: This is like in the top two for me uh on the album, just as far as songs I really enjoy listening to that I will go back to for a long time.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, huge, huge fan of American cars.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're in lockstep in terms of the tiny desk version just being a bit better, but we both prefer live music, like you said.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a huge fan of this one as well.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately, it sounded like a Sam Fender song to me.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it was funny because I heard a snippet of an interview where Noah talked about people he would like to feature on the album, and he mentioned Louis Capaldi, someone else who I can't remember, and then he mentioned Sam Fender, and specifically he wanted Sam to sing on American Cars.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, that checks out to me.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds exactly like People Watching, is the song that comes to mind.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think they start very similar ways.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I think this song serves as a very good representation of what the album is about from a lyrical standpoint.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: It starts to dive into the lyrical elements of the album that he is basically wanting to disappear from his own life that came after the success of Stick Season.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like the highs and the fame that that album brought him were something that he was not ready for.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And everything that went into that kind of seemed to take away from who he was, and especially how that person that he was served in his family dynamic, which he talks a lot about throughout Stick Season.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the complexities of the songwriting throughout this album are brilliant, and they're on full display in this one and several others.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that those are some of the themes that I noticed in this and wanted to point out because we're gonna see those again and again throughout the album.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you know me, I'm not like the you know, first time going through an album lyricist kind of person, but you can't help but notice them in this album.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I found myself even more than usual picking up on themes and lyrics that I thought were really interesting, and I think that's a testament to his songwriting um in a way that you can't, you want to say like you can't really ignore them, even though honestly I usually find a way to, regardless.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: So credit, credit to Noah there.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: That is that is funny, yeah.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: His lyrics are definitely his calling card, and then the rest is kind of ancillary, but he's gotten himself to be this full artist now where the rest is also pretty damn good.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a credit to him.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Track four is Downfall.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I really like this one.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of a slow burner, but I really enjoyed the chorus.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it builds to a really nice point in the chorus.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Lyrically, it almost takes on a similar persona to New Perspective, the song from Sixth Season, where he's talking about someone who left a small town and others are wishing for that person to fail.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're preying on their downfall.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's part of a small town community.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think there is a little bit of truth in that.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ed Sheeran has referenced about how in the UK people are like crabs in a barrel.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: They help a crab get to the top, but once they're at the top, they immediately try to bring that crab back down.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that mentality is kind of similar in some small towns.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: I this is kind of the first example to me of what I was talking about earlier with the lyrics being poignant and being like very in your face.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like, I'll be rooting for your downfall over and over and over again.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, like, yeah, like it's right there, it's in your face, it's not abstract, it's not this kind of like poetic thing.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's very right in front of you, which to me, like I enjoy the song.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not my favorite, and like it's one that if I go back to out of the context of the album, it the the lyrics could be a little bit like just off-putting in a way, where that's like that's not just what I want to listen to all the time.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that in your face.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I enjoy the song.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think it has a good place in the album, but I don't think it's super repetitive, like it definitely holds its own, um, but definitely not in my like top five or anything by any means.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would I would agree with that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's it does stand out as different than some of the meat and bones that we got lost in throughout the album, but it's not in my top five.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think it's fair for us to move on to Lighthouse, the fifth track.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: This was one that is only on the Last of the Bugs version of the album.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this is one of the additionals.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I was a fan of this.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's another one that starts off with some ambient noise and just vocals.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Another slow burn where you know he kind of it it it waits, it waits, it waits, and then it's like, oh, here it is, it's a nice song.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there's definitely a build to it that you have to sit through.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a line in this one that says the wreckage of you, which is a direct line that is used in the song Halloween from stick season.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think both times he puts a little spin on it, but I think that phrasing of the term wreckage of you is pretty cool, and it seems to be about wanting to preserve a version of someone or something while life gets in the way and maybe people start trying to destroy that version.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So he's trying to defend the wreckage of you.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's just that's cool stuff, and you don't see that in a lot of pop songs these days.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, really good uh again with the imagery and the I think from a lyrical standpoint, there's no denying that he's just an awesome songwriter.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm with you.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Track six is paid time off.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: This was a change of pace.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was happy with this one.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was a little campfire sing-along, definitely the folkiest one on the album, in my opinion.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I just think I I I this one is also poignant lyrically, but I think in like a charming way.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just like the concept of that kind of paid time off refrain of making a working, make a living working for the paid time off.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, it's like a cool refrain, um, and something that's just different.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just haven't heard anything like that before.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I really like the the feel change during the chorus.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like it starts, it has this kind of different feel and then it builds into the chorus' kind of cut time thing, which I really enjoyed.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, I just think the lyrics are a unique concept.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, it's a winner, it's something that I would go back to uh in kind of a more like chill concept, like if I'm at work or something like that, something in the background.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I did enjoy the tune a lot though.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, doesn't it feel like a country campfire song?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just feel like you're sitting around a campfire, especially in that second half where you notice that transition.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like, oh yeah, it's just like there's a nice little beat to it.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's a toe tapper.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's a toe tapper.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, except it's got more like lyrical depth than I think the average country song.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It almost sounds like a traditional country song that I don't know if it even exists, but it sounds like something I've heard before.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just a little ditty almost, like a little ditty.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: It also reminded me of John Mayer's Wildfire, where that has a similar feel where that gets to a point in the song where it's all kind of like, okay, hey, now it's toe-tapsing along.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and there's a focus to it.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't mind that comparison.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I like this one because it was different and it was definitely a change of pace on the album, and it keeps you engaged when you're listening to it straight through.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: You need you need some curveballs.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just sit fastball the whole album, Noah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So glad we got a curveball there.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Staying still.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: This one, I don't think you've heard yet, if I'm correct, because you were not listening to the Last of the Bugs version.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hand up, hand up.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I thought we were gonna maybe try to hide it during the pod, but I guess not.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I didn't realize there was an extended cut, so that's on me.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't miss all that much, I would say, from the the the extended cut.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is the biggest miss from the extended cut, in my opinion.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of my favorite songs on the album.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big fan.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: It has all the elements to being also one of the biggest from the album in general.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you look for seeing like things that people will latch on to and Take up to the top of the charts.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I would predict that staying still would be one of them.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Which typically I kind of avoid those as my favorites, but it has a lot of Boston references.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: References Logan Airport, references the Harvard track team.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely some once again.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out Harvard track.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty cool.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out College Athletics.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then it has that build of the pop song and then the the drums, the bump bump, where it's kind of almost like the stick season vibe, bringing it right back, playing the hits.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And also the back half of this has some really cool vocal range where he hits his falsetto for a bit, and then he has these sonically loud sores with his voice too.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of overlays them with one another.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's a cool song that has a lot in it.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I expect this one to do well in the charts.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, well, it's on my cue for as soon as we hang up here so I don't get you fined by the uh whatever uh agency tracks these podcasts playing music.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: No copyright infringements, please.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: We can't we can't afford we can't afford a lawyer.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the eighth song is the title track, The Great Divide.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: This was the first single from the album.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna let you take the reins on this one.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I really dig this song, man.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's the one that I find myself kind of that riff is so interesting to me.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: It has like uh, you know me, I'm a big Dave Matthews fan.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: It has that kind of like Dave Matthews-y kind of feel to it.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it reminds me a lot of the song Shotgun by Dave Matthews, which is uh an unreleased kind of deep cut.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I think it just like goes perfectly from that riff um into these like really cool chord changes in the pre-chorus as well.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I think there's a there's cool hits kind of throughout it that make it interesting too.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um you you know, you're not just getting the two and four, you're getting some kind of emphasis points on different hits.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: The chorus lyrics don't quite do it for me.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh honestly, maybe the chorus is like the weakest part in my opinion.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of like the rest of it better.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: But this goes back to those kind of in-your-face, harsh lyrics.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: When I heard cancer on your skin, I was like, did I hear that right?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I had to like, is he really is he going that far?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he is, and it's like harsh and in your face, and I don't know.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Some some people are gonna love that, some people are gonna hate it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I can overlook it in this instance because I like the rest of the song and I really like that riff a lot.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just something about it keeps playing in my head.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: What do what do you got?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: I know you you feel lesser than I do.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's how the people of the Northeast are.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: They don't pull punches, they're they're in your face.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's Boston at its finest there.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's northern attitude to quote to quote Noah's stuff.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: I like this song.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I like it as much as you do.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed it when it first came out.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: The first couple times I heard it, I was like, oh yeah, this is awesome.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then for some reason, when I was listening to it in the context of the album, I'm just not sure if it fit for me.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't as I thought the album was gonna be different based on this song, I guess.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then I I kind of forgot about the song as I was going through it the first time and got to it and was like, oh yeah, here's the great divide.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know this one, and it's good.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely like it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be in my rotation.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not one of my top five favorites, I would say.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not to say it's a bad song in any way.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not, it didn't crack my top five or seven.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's fair, and I could see how I I would agree with you that based on that single release, the out it feels out of place on the album.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of I honestly maybe would have liked it in the two-hole, like right after that end of August.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, could be it could have been a good tone setter there.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it feels like it jumps off the page at you.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you're reading like a bedtime story, and then there's a big scary monster that pops up.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, whoa, where'd you come from?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, so I think we've kind of hit both sides of the spectrum where like there's songs that I like in the context of the album but won't listen to outside of the album.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: This is one that maybe I don't like in the context of the album because it's just like stands out a lot, but I will go back and listen to on its own as a standalone.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: We crack the code, that's all you can talk about sometimes.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: The ninth song is Haircut, and it has dawned on me that I said we weren't gonna we're not gonna go track by track.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: We basically are.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna skip a few.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if your song gets skipped, hand up apology, but you're it might actually stink if it's one once it's skipped.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, because we're talking about a lot of them.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Haircut's one of my favorites.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hope I have your vote here with me.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: I really, really like this tune.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Agree.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's it's top three for me for sure.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love it.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: There is, I really like the chorus, it's sketchy.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: I really something about the um eating fast food, sleeping at my dad's place, like that just like hits for some reason.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't been able to figure out why.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's like um, I think the chord change there is unique.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like your kind of straightforward chord change, so maybe it has something to do with that.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I really like that lyric, and every time it hits, like I'm just like not getting sick of it.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's one of those like poignant in your face, like, I'm not being abstract here, like I'm I'm creating this very like vivid image of this regular thing, but it works on this one a lot.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love the groove, I love the fiddle throughout.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: This also, I noticed this too.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's there's ends of his vocal range that I don't love.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't love when he's too low, and I also don't love when he's like screaming.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this one feels perfectly right in his his wheelhouse from a vocal standpoint, too.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, this one's a winner for sure for me.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: You took a lot of what I was gonna say, so good job by you.
• 27:31
  unknown: Okay.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm in lockstep with you.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: I also think haircut being the symbol for change in a person is it's cool, it's smart.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a nice layer of something there, which I appreciate.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I also think the lyric and the way he sings it, you told me if a lie turned true, a lie it would still be.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a smart lyric.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it had me thinking it's like, you know what, if you lie and it turns out to be true, it's still a lie, you know, you can't really sneak that one past me.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's I just really enjoy this song.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's well written, I think it sounds good, and I completely agree with the vocal range.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is the sweet spot for him.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's right between the mustard and the mayo.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: So good job by you, Noah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Track 10 is another one where I'm a fan of this one as well, Willing and Able.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a beautiful song.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's really just nice.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It almost has an Irish folky sound on the guitar.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's another one that ranks pretty highly for me just because I think it's delicate in a way that a lot of other ones aren't.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the lyrics are just beautiful.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a big fan of Willing and Abel as well.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have it as high, highly ranked as haircut, but it is a favorite of mine.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Agree.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think we're pretty in in tune there as well.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: The intro reminded me of like an old school Ed Sheeran kind of acoustic intro.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that I I instantly caught my attention.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: I like it as a good little, um, very, very pretty song.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in certain contexts, we'll we'll certainly go back to it.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, great storytelling as well, I think.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I like the chorus.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, uh, for me it's a winner.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's one that I will go back to, but it doesn't fall in that kind of like repetitive camp that I think we're we're approaching um in these kind of middle tracks.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I I did like willing and able for sure.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Dashboard is next, and you mentioned kind of the beginning of the repetitiveness.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: This one falls into that bucket musically for me.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's just not much that stands out.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would point out the lyrics again, this is what he's known for, so I think it's important to talk about them.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: The hammering home of the concepts of this album, the self-hatred that has come from the fame and success, naturally changing him and mixing that with how self-aware he is, and just being able to articulate and convey these things in a very digestible way for lay people like us to understand.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that's a skill that's not always easy for some of these geniuses.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're way smarter than we are, and I keep referencing Taylor Swift, who I think is one of the best songwriters of all time, but she has the same ability to kind of look in the mirror and take a really pointed thing in her life, but make it relatable to so many others by just carefully choosing the way they construct songs.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Dashboard does do that, if nothing else.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Agree.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, I mean, if if nothing else, that storytelling is consistent throughout this album.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Even if it's not the most audibly unique or different or ear-catching thing, the storytelling is consistent.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when we get into this, kind of like there's a couple tracks here that just like don't do a lot for me, starting with this one.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because I am the instrumental music guy, like even on the second, third, fourth listen, it's just like, all right, I kind of get it, you know.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, this one good storytelling, but I just can't get past the like kind of um just plainness of it, I guess.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's simple, there's not much to it.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's something you read once and you understand it for life.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you're yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh track 12 is just 23, the number 23.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this one is just very one note.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't move the needle for me, and I think we're just gonna move right by it because it falls into that bucket of a we could do without this.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Track 13 is Porchlight, which was the second single.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a bigger fan of this one than you, I believe.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is an Aaron Desner song through and through.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: You could tell immediately, the fingerprints are all over it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: That plucky guitar, and this was the second single, and when it came out, I liked it considerably less than the Great Divide.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was a much bigger Great Divide fan than Porchlight.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think I might have flipped or at least gotten close to liking them the same.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Porch Light's grown on me a decent bit.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's yeah, yeah, I couldn't that that's where we're gonna be, we're gonna butthead on that because I I couldn't disagree more.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I think to me, this three-song um section of the album was just kind of a slog to get through.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I just think there was nothing really original or unique from a music standpoint, and despite good storytelling, I just couldn't get past that.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Porchlight for me was just another one that's like, all right, I'm probably not gonna go back to this, honestly.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I do I get what you're saying with the plucky guitar for sure, but a lot of the songs are plucky guitar.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, they you know, uh it's kind of a pick your character of the kind of feel that you want, and and the unique ones are the unique ones, but outside of that, they all kind of fit this shape um of what these kind of folksy songs sound like.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not always a bad thing, but for me, there wasn't enough here that stood out to make it one that I would go back to.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: It falls in the section of the album where there's several songs that are maybe not the most likely for us to go revisit.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: That one did stand out to me as one that I will, but we're going to track 14, which is deny, deny, deny, which I think falls right back into that same bucket we just talked about.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any takeaways from this one?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my takeaway is that Noah's gonna have to deny, deny, deny that he stole the riff from uh Creden's Clearwater Revival.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever seen the rain?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is identical.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same riff.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Go listen to the song Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Most people have heard it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very popular song in the public sector.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: The riff is the exact same.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: I actually didn't mind the song overall.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's different.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's different.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: It gets you out of that kind of like slog of just like stuff that kind of sounds the same.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I didn't I didn't dislike it by any means, but uh, it also isn't one of my favorites.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I put it in the skip bucket, like I said, but it's not it is different.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: At least it's just not a favorite of mine.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not not something I'm gonna be revisiting a ton.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Track 15 headed north.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, all I had in my notes was not my favorite campfire sing-along vibes.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're chilling, relaxing by a campfire, I could see how this song might make the rotation.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I just not it nothing stood out enough to want to revisit it again and again.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: I would agree generally.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think I liked it slightly more than you'd in just that it has this cool acoustic riff to start it.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I thought musically it was a little bit more um intricate than some of the other kind of folksy vibes.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: I thought there's some nice kind of acoustic guitar lead lines there too.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, not like not a top five by any means, but some one that I definitely I think I like it more than you.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: It caught my attention in that way.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Track 16 is we go way back, and this is where I started to get back myself into the album.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of in a trance for those last five songs on my initial listen, on my second listen, I'm like, oh boy.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I was talking about, where there's a lot of bites in the food.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: You like the first bite and then the second, third.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, it's chewyer than I thought.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: We go way back.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan of it.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think vocally, again, it's that sweet spot for me.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's vocally impressive, it's airy, but musical, musical enough to keep me interested.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that fits that that spot that I'm looking for.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned you can't have it be boring in one note.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: You need a little something musically to keep you engaged, and I think this one does just enough to do that.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I'm gonna go the other way on this one.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't do quite enough for me, honestly, to want to go back to it.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's fine, it's pretty, but in like the grand scheme of the album, it falls in that kind of category for me of just like, yeah, you know, I don't really feel the need to go back to it.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: I guess I get it in the context.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, like the the storytelling is good.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: That that's gonna be a constant theme, but for me, for my my like the way that I processed music, it was just like kind of okay for me.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we what we just saw throughout the last seven or so songs that we reviewed, we're were similar.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing really stood out as a real high, high or real low, low, but it's just kind of your personal preference.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's some that you liked a little bit more than I did, there's some I liked more than you did.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And each listener, they're gonna have their own favorites among that group as well.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: So spoiled track 17.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I really like this one.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: I actually like it a lot.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was good.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was good.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's not quite in the like it's not in the bottom tier, but again, like it's just kind of nothing special to me.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't really have it doesn't it doesn't give me this longing to go back to it.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think to me, there's like this upper echelon of like maybe five songs on this album that are standout, unique, different.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Something about them makes me want to go back to them.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe, maybe six or so.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's this kind of like big middle of like they're not bad songs, they're they're good songs.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: They are too similar and not unique enough for me to diff to differentiate out of them.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, this this kind of just falls in that camp.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's disappointing.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is a bit disappointing, I can't lie, but I I will I will hold firm in my opinion of this song.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm a believer in it.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's one of I'm not gonna throw it in the top five or anything, but I would say it's a top ten song in the album for me.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's in the top half.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: I just really enjoy it.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: I like the chorus, I like the melody.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: It checks a lot of boxes, and I think it certainly stands out amongst the last several that we had heard at this point.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe I was looking for something to be like, oh, here we go again in the album, but I really did like spoiled.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna now transition to my favorite track on the album, which I think came as a surprise to you.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: But track 18 is all them horses.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, do I love this one.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love I can't get enough of it, Ryan.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it it has a similarness to end of August, actually.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a nice build, and you have to be patient with it.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think something really just tickles my fancy when that transition happens and the little musical breakdown when all the instruments come in and they start singing just a different refrain post-chorus type thing, and the whole sound of the song changes, and it reminds me of the end of August in that way, where it's it's it's like an art project.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this one really, I really enjoy it.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say enough good things about it.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: I even named, in fact, our last episode, All Them Horses, in honor of it, because not only do we talk about Kentucky Derby, but I thought this song was worthy of an episode title.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: So clever you are, that big brain.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tiny little brain.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I like the song a lot.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I'm in my notes, I had something similar in that I think it serves a really similar purpose to end of August.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh it's a good song that to me is made better by the context of it.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the context is you're coming to the end of this project, and it it has this kind of tone shift.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I agree, I think it's a really good song.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've really liked the ending, like you said.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love the fiddle that comes in at the end.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like beautiful, it's yeah, no, it's great, it's cool.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's for me though, where I would just differentiate, and similar to end of August, is it's not the context is where I feel it thrives the best, and the context being the the you know one of the penultimate songs of this album.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um where out of that context, I don't know if I love it as much.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's the you could you could start my morning with this song, you know.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean let's see, yeah, yeah.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: This one travels for me.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I I do I that is a weird taste.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I guess it's a taste thing in just how we differ on those two because you are you're saying you're a fan of both songs.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am also, but I I haven't even considered not listening to them in any context.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I I think they're they're just travelers for me, they'll play at any time.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: End of August, particularly, it just takes a while to get to it.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, that's like if I'm listening on a playlist or I'm like in the car or like at work or whatever, just when I'm listening to music, that is just that's annoying to me for it to take that long to get to it.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful if you're locked in, like, I'm gonna listen to this album and that's what I'm gonna do, and you're taking it all in.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: That that's where it's different for me.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Fair, and that is usually how I take it in.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: So there's where the that's where the difference lies.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Track 19 is a few of your own.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: This was one that's growing on me.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's it was kind of a nothing burger after first listen.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh, but I'm happy to say, happy to report back.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan of this one, and I think we're we're gaining some momentum as we head towards the finish line here, Noah.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're back on the rails, and I feel, at least for Sean Boyle, you're checking some boxes here with spoiled all them horses, a few of your own.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: I got nothing to say on this one because I'm a fraud.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, is this a is this an extended cut?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: Two of the songs are these these next two.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: A few of your own and orbiter.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh I don't know the songs.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: I have not listened to them.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll get your reaction to these at a later point, maybe.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, Orbiter is the 20th, an actual penultimate track on the Death of the Bugs version, and this song you kind of lost me, Noah.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: You had me, and then you lost me for 80% of this one.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I think the all them horses and end of August slow builds are really good and provide something and ease you into it.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think the orbiter beginning is just kind of nothing.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: It does sound a bit different, it's a different guitar, it sounds a little different than some of the album, but it just is not something that clicks with me.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: I will point out though, the outro, the last 20% of this song, is absolutely beautiful.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: The lyric, I'm gonna lose you either way, the way he sings it, it's just oh yeah.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, there he is, right in the fields one more time before we go.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that I think that at least I can listen to that portion of the song again and again.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I like it.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: And last but certainly not least, yeah, Dan I has to be a good friend's name based on the context close, which basically says it.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: This one to me, we both had songs that this reminded us of.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately, it sounds exactly like if we were vampires and death was a joke by Jason Isbell and the 400 unit, a song that Noah has covered, but I honestly thought he was putting his covered version of it on this album because I didn't see the name of the song when I was listening.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Oh, he put it on.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Oh my god, so cool.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then he was like singing different layers.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, whoa, it's not it.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: We might have a copyright thing with this one as well.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that seems to be a little bit of a trend here, Noah.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Be careful.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my couple, my big body.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Mine was from another artist that we have reviewed, and it was uh Harry, Harry Styles.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this reminded me right off the bat, uh it sounded a lot like Sweet Creature from from Harry Styles off the old album.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um those first few notes after you pointed that out, I was like, oh yep, there is some sweet creature there too.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: Which is a great it is a really good song.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: It could be one of my favorite, it could be my favorite Harry Styles song.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um so again, I for this one, like I like it.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I think I get it as the end of the album.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's not my favorite overall.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel like super, super unique musically, uh, but it is a nice kind of floaty tune to kind of end the album as this kind of fade off, um, which I appreciate on an album.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've more, you know, the more album reviews we do, the more it feels like that that is a a trend with the last song of the album, which I like.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean you're you're telling a story, right?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta have a conclusion of some kind, and for me, this does a nice job of ending it.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is a really good ender as well.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not only the sound of it, but the lyrics, it's where do we go when we die?
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mind right here, no, I don't mind at all.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like contentment and being in that situation with surrounded by friends and loved ones, and just feeling that sense of gratitude and content.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a cool way to end it.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: And sonically, vocally, I think it matches.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good way to tie a bow on the album.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I really do enjoy Dan.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's break down the highlights, the songs we're going to go back to.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a long list, probably longer than yours, but I want to let you lead the way.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so mine uh we'll go like top top five that I will definitely be going back to, regardless of context, is I love American Cars.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: A love grade divide, love haircut.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think those are my clear top three.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I would put willing and able paid time off, kind of to round out the five.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I think I would go back to deny deny deny headed north.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um even Dan, uh, downfall, like there's that, there's like uh I definitely have like a top three, and then kind of a next two, and then like maybe three or four more that are in the like, yeah, I could go back to it.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so those are the ones that would fall on the that kind of tier for me.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like tiers in a fantasy football draft.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I I'm going quarterback here, but if these guys go, I could wait and I'd be happy with one of the guys.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what it's like.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: For me, all them horses, end of August with a bullet, those are the two.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then staying still, willing and able, haircut in American cars are what I had.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other three I wanted to just mention Dan, spoiled, paid time off, I would throw right underneath them.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they're there's my top two, a little bit of a gap, four, a little bit of a gap, three more.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then we probably have about five more that sounded similar.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: I if they come on, I'm not gonna throw out a single complaint.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll gladly toe-tap sing along if I could, but they're not something I'm gonna be actively seeking a ton.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's just where the difference would lie.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: I noticed no mention of Great Divide.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's kind of wild.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: No mention.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's wild.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I and honestly, this is gonna sound bad.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: I might be sick of it already, is the problem because I listened to this shit out of it.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I listened to it, and honestly, it wasn't even by choice.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime I opened my damn Spotify, it felt like it was one of those, it just got trapped there.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I would just open Spotify and be greeted like an alarm clock each morning with Great Divide.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: Three weeks before the album came out.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so maybe that's playing a role in it too.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because I even because I even said that Porchlight might have got might have grown past it for me.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: And originally I didn't think that at all.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was all in on Great Divide.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was in fact telling the masses, hey, listen, Noah put word out, Noah Khan's back up.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Back.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: But but now I don't I don't know.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also a credit, I really love the other songs that I mentioned.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I do like the Great Divide.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just really love the ones I talked about.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: Fair enough.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's uh that I I think is our biggest uh kind of discrepancy.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think it's the top three on the album, and you don't you don't even mention it in like the top ten.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I probably mentioned nine or ten.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: I did not mention one.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's wild.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm glad hey, we can't be the like-minded hive here.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we have a whole different okay.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Overall review of the album.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are your what are your spark notes for the great divide, last of the bugs?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: Although you can't comment on the last of the bugs part.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can't comment on the box.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: If my hand's gonna comment on the great divide, I'll do the whole thing.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for me.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, okay, so this the album's 17 songs long, the bugs one is 21.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, realistically, there's four to five of those that if you cut, you're not really getting rid of much, in my opinion.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'll start there.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: Outside of those four to five, I do think it's a really cool, well-rounded album from a unique perspective, storytelling-wise.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's some some cool stuff musically happening throughout.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think um what what I what I'm getting at with my first comment is like I just wish that it felt more musically diverse throughout, because there is musical diversity in the album.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: It just the different categories, or maybe five songs in one of the categories where like we don't need all five songs in that category, if that makes sense.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for me, outside of the repetitiveness, I really did appreciate the storytelling because, as like, again, as we've talked about, I'm not the biggest lyrics guy, especially early in listening.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't you can't ignore the lyrics on this album, which for me is um impressive.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I enjoyed it.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: There are certainly songs I will go back to because of it.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: It does take multiple listens, in my opinion, like you mentioned, to truly digest it.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I would recommend that for people that are giving it a try um to go back at least twice and s and feel out, you know, the songs that you like and the ones that you don't.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree with that last point you made.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's important, even with Stix Season with Noah, there was a there were several songs on there that I liked the first time I heard them, but then the more and more you hear them, you notice little things or little lyrics and you start to like them even more and gain a greater appreciation for them.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's gonna be the case with this one because, like you said, the first time around, I really liked it.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: The second and third time, I grew to almost loving it.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I I really think it's a super strong album in the context of his career as well, because there's a ton of pressure on him to follow up stick season.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: There was a ton of anticipation because of how long the wait had been between albums.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: He it's been four or five years since we've had truly new Noah Con music, and his fan base has grown an unbelievable amount since then.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the the pressure for this to be successful was uh was very high, and I think he knocked it out of the park, all that being said.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: So a credit to him.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: A another thing I noticed with Aaron Desner produced albums, uh, and I guess Noah Con and his small sample size as well, they are growers, not showers.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: They appreciation and a fine-tooth comb to go through and really pick up the little tidbits that they give you.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that goes back to our point.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to it again and again, and I think it's gonna age really, really well.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'll say this too: in an age where you really can't take for granted someone that gets famous off of a genuinely good musical album, uh, he did not abandon his roots by any means with this.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I will give credit where credit's due there.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's really easy for someone to like, you know, stick season becomes what it is, the song, right?
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: And he becomes extremely famous because of this song.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: How how realistic would it be for this album to come out and it's like a pop album?
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: Just based on his popularity.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I will give him immense credit in that he has stuck to his guns, stayed in, you know, true to himself in the songwriting capacity.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: So while every single song is not my personal cup of tea, like we need artists like this uh to maintain the integrity of music.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: So respect to Noah.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, also I want to shout this out to you as well.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: Go watch his Netflix documentary that came out, I believe, the same time the album did.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just got done watching it, trying to prepare for this to add a couple little nuggets or whatever, and spectacular perspective on a guy who truly battles through some real shit with mental health, and he's such an advocate for mental health.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then the way he's able to take that what he's going through and not only contextualize it himself, but be in a place to then put out music that other people can relate to and it can serve as a healing moment or hour for them.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it could almost be a therapy session without going to a therapist.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's super cool, and that's a talent that very few people have.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, check it out.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I thought my agenda for sure.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and what you just mentioned about how he stayed true to himself, it's it's honestly just so evident in that documentary that he is just the most most authentic, real, raw guy who'd never really envisioned this level of success.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: And once it's happened, it's taken a toll on him more so than it would a person who had been planning to reach that their whole life.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: They might have a plan of attack, whereas he kind of became a megastar during COVID.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a really weird thing to have happen to you.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously it's cool, and I'm sure he's blessed by it, but it's also what you hear in this album being pulled away from Vermont and feeling like he's been a bad family member because of how infrequently he's been back to visit them because of all the success in touring.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just it's it's really special stuff from a songwriting and person perspective.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out Noah.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the moment I've been waiting for.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: We like to give a score reveal at the end of these here.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: Zero to a hundred.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would like Ryan, I would like you to go first.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I'm I think I'm gonna go maybe a little higher than you're thinking I'm gonna go.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it's a solid 80.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, good.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was what eight eighty was the mark.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: The over-under for me was 79 and a half.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if you would give it an 80 or because I did think you liked it.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't know if you really liked it or just kind of liked it.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like you really liked it.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: 80 is a B minus.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of really good things happening.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's well above passing.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is it my favorite album of all time?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I think there's some really, really good notes on it.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: Some some tunes that will be in my rotation for a long time.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's as as a piece of art, I think it's really good.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do I think there's some like I said, can we can we cut through some of it?
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think like start to finish, there's really cool elements that make it a complete album, which I like as well.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so between that and the songs you can kind of pluck from it and just listen to on a playlist, uh, I I did.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: I really I I enjoyed it a lot.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh yeah, so 80 is the score on my end.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go 88.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: 88.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: A high strong B plus.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I am grading this, I will say, I'm grading it with its upside factored in.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I probably right now have it a little lower than that, but as I mentioned, with how these things tend to age, I think it's gonna age well.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna give it a final grade of an 88.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: So leaving myself a little bit of wiggle room for it to grow.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it doesn't get worse, in my opinion.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I am thrilled with it.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a good follow-up with all the pressure in the world on him.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: So happy that it came out this way.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Justin Vernon plays a little bit of a role in this one too.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: Bonnie Vare, for those back home.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's just he's my guy.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Anything he touches, I really love.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he plays a little bit, he sings some backing vocals and he does some writing on some of the songs.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: So just having Justin Vernon in around the mix always gonna get a good grade when that's the case.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did not know that.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever, wherever it's like where there's smoke, there's fire.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where there's destiner, there's Vernon.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's always there's always a little Justin lingering around, ready to touch.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: I believe he sang backup on downfall, and then he helped produce and play guitar on headed north and spoiled.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that's accurate.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I think that's it.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: That does make sense.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to make sure we didn't go an hour without mentioning my guy.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Pay respects.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're about yeah, we're we're at we're right at an hour.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: Shorter than an album.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: Shorter than the album.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan, anything else before we go?
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I'm I'm glad that we are continuing to do this.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's exposing me to some some full albums that maybe I wouldn't give a second thought to to be more thoughtful about and to appreciate more.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: So this would definitely fall in that camp.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: Would I have listened to this album once through?
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Would I have given it maybe that second third chance?
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I I would encourage the the listeners to to be less like me and to do do their own listening uh and to get a beta greater appreciation for really good art like this.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_00: Perfectly well said.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you joining me.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great place to leave it.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Go listen to the Great Divide if you haven't.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure if you've stumbled upon us two knuckleheads talking about the Great Divide, you have with me out several times by now.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think I need to plug it.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: But but just make sure, please make sure you like and subscribe.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate your listenership.
• 56:07
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• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: Follow us on Instagram, follow us on YouTube.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, the youths love the clips, so we're getting into the clip game.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, clips are hot in the streets.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we're on Jeremy in the comments.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can't keep encouraging the pulling of Jeremy comments.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jeremy, I don't, I don't condone that.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh listeners, thank you all for tuning in, and until next time, take care of the thing.