"Stick Season"，是秋冬交際，樹葉凋零而冬天的雪還未落下的日子。
繼第三張正規專輯的成功後，這次回歸故鄉Vermont，用他細膩的感官跟一如既往說故事般的口吻，用簡單的吉他跟爽朗、原始的歌聲，喚醒瑣碎記憶中的種種過往，然後一遍遍地讓過去的自己傾訴，然後聆聽、感受，最後接納。
“At its core, ‘Stick Season’ is a song about feeling left behind and feeling trapped. It's about seeing the other side of a place you thought was only beautiful. As a relationship ends, some place or someone you used to look back at so fondly quickly transforms into a memory of pain.”—Noah Kahan
「你知道你在這裡留下太多回憶，而當那種被遺留和困住的情緒被喚醒時，所產生的內在衝突是很掙扎的，但偏偏又是這麼地真實。」
“Stick Season”不是慢歌，整首歌有點輕快、坦然，聽起來很原始、很單純。適合在開車公路旅行，或點著營火在躺椅上看天空的時候聽。
整首歌只有人聲、吉他，其實不怎麼華麗，可能也因為這樣，聽得出對自己的誠實與直白。歌詞很可愛地淺顯易懂，沒有過多裝飾。但汲取自再真實不過的生活小事，讓每句歌詞都可以感受到背後豐富的情緒跟一段段的回憶風景。其中特別有感的一句是Noah Kahan把疫情下無法隨心所欲到處旅行的煩悶心境寫進歌詞，並調侃地說"Doc told me to travel but there's COVID on the planes."
“The beauty of autumn foliage in Vermont transforms into a brown and gray wasteland as we wait for the first snow. It is an unfortunate but necessary transition, similar in so many ways to the transition from familiar lovers into heartbroken strangers. I like to look at the song as hopeful; winter will come, the snow will fall, melt, and eventually summer will be back in all its beauty. You will suffer, move on, and survive again.”—Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan在訪談時談及正是這樣的故鄉跟季節變換的背景塑造了這樣的自己，也很驚訝有這麼多人能在聽了這首歌後產生共鳴。在有一點寂寥單調、灰濛濛的季節，體驗著類似的成長經歷，學著長大。
歌詞的最後寫道“Now you're tire tracks, and one pair of shoes, and I'm split in half, but that'll have to do.” 有些事到了某個特定的時間點會得到諒解並接受，過程可能有些笨拙，但拾回了自己的過去，才能慢慢接受這樣的自己，然後活著。
願過往那些摸不著且無以名狀的感慨，都能找到安然放下的一天，像一到秋天時葉子的必然凋零，冬天的初雪一如既往地降下。
BTW，個人超愛"Orange Juice"，推薦推薦。下次更新不知道什麼時候，不期不待XD
文獻來源：
- Francesca Theofilou. (2022). "Noah Kahan’s Stick Season dives headfirst into who we are and where we come from". The Georgetown Voice.
- Larisha Paul. (2022). "Noah Kahan’s Latest Single ‘Stick Season’ Is The Song He’s Always Wanted To Write" . Udiscovermusic.
- Jane McKinley. (2022). " 'I'm mean because I grew up in New England’: Noah Kahan’s newest album rings with nostalgia". The Miami Student.
