Noah Kahan Brings Emotional, Rousing Balladry to SNL

"For “The Great Divide,” we're in a home built on the soundstage, a wood burning stove opposite a couch. The inside setting embodied the interior balladry of the song, which lyrically wrestles with looking back at a youthful misunderstanding of someone searching for faith and salvation and taking such a search for granted amid getting high and listening to songs just for the bass, instead of the message."

"Split between acoustic and electric instruments, Kahan's writing and performance formula is to build a song in its four minute life, starting with lowkey singing and acoustic guitar then layering driving rhythm, electric and folk instruments with rising vocal intensity. He has embraced the woos-and-ahhs Barncore of Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers."

"But Kahan's singalongs are more about guttural expression of an individual than melodic solidarity with listeners, which was on display towards the end his first song on SNL. He howled in a falsetto, stretching to reach notes in a cathartic display."

"On a dimly lit stage, a floor of fog and a serene backdrop of a landscape dimly lit, dotted by trees and a mercurial sky flashing with lightning, Kahan set the stage for a natural and stormy performance. The emotional interiority of “The Great Divide” soundstage was juxtaposed to the outside depiction and external relationship expressed “Doors,” probably the more endearing of the two performances."

Noah Kahan performed a two-song set on Saturday Night Live, opening with “The Great Divide” and later performing “Doors.” “The Great Divide” used soundstage home dressing with a wood burning stove and couch, matching the song’s interior ballad themes about youthful misunderstanding, searching for faith and salvation, and taking that search for granted while getting high and listening for bass instead of message. The performance built from lowkey singing and acoustic guitar into layered driving rhythm with electric and folk instruments and rising vocal intensity. The set for “Doors” shifted to a dimly lit, fog-covered stage with a landscape backdrop, trees, and lightning, emphasizing a natural, stormy exterior relationship.

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