Noah Kahan Considers the Weight of Fame on Single ‘Porch Light’

Noah Kahan shared a new single, “Porch Light.” The song is the second track to emerge from the musician’s forthcoming LP, The Great Divide, out April 24 via Mercury Records.

“Porch Light” was written by Kahan alongside producer Aaron Dessner during their first-ever session together, and produced by Kahan, Dessner, and Gabe Simon. It was recorded between Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in Hudson, New York, and Gold Pacific Studios in Nashville.

According to a press release, the single was inspired by the emotional weight Kahan felt he put on his family by opening up their lives with his last album, Stick Season. It sees him singing from his mother’s perspective: “I hope you tell me that you’re winding down/ That you’ve lost the taste to face the crowd/ That whatever made you famous made you sick/ That you can only do what pain allows/ It ain’t up to you to make it out/ And there ain’t no shame in callin’ this thing quits.”

Kahan wrote and recorded The Great Divide across multiple locations, including “next to a piano in Nashville, next to a pond in Guilford, Vermont, in a legendary studio in upstate New York, on a farm with a firetower in Only, Tennessee.” The record marks the follow-up to his acclaimed third album Stick Season, which arrived in 2022 and earned him a Best New Artist nomination at the 2024 Grammy Awards. The singer shared the first track off the album, “The Great Divide,” in January.

Kahan will support the new album on tour this summer. The 30-date tour kicks off with back-to-back nights on June 11 and 12 in Orlando before heading to Philadelphia, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and more, wrapping on Aug. 31 in Seattle. Gigi Perez will support on all dates, with Annabelle Dinda joining on the majority of shows. It will include four record-breaking performances at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Ahead of The Great Divide, Kahan will premiere his forthcoming documentary, Noah Kahan: Out of Body, on March 16 at SXSW. The film will then arrive on Netflix.