Music reviews: Noah Kahan, Kehlani, and Foo Fighters

‘The Great Divide’ by Noah Kahan

★★★

“Noah Kahan is a master of making total strangers feel he’s looking them in the eye,” said Ann Powers in NPR.org. Stick Season catapulted the Vermont singer-songwriter to stardom in 2022 and his follow-up “finds Kahan reaching for a new plateau,” seeking to secure his place among the literary songwriter elite by working a theme while displaying musical versatility. “Instead of constantly barreling forward, this album builds in relaxed stretches and turn-abouts,” and its songs reaffirm Kahan’s gift for grounded, detailed lyrics. At the same time, it delivers more of the rousing arena-ready choruses that made Stick Season, in many ways, “the culmination of the whole stomp-clap style.” Unfortunately, Kahan overworks his theme, said Casey Epstein-Gross in Paste, because The Great Divide runs for 77 minutes and “there are only so many ways you can sing about leaving your small town, finding fame, and feeling guilty about it.” Considered individually, “most of the songs are classic Kahan fare.” But they “bleed together,” and “no matter how vulnerable a track gets, it’s hard to fully buy into the emotion when it feels so safely protected in its own sheen.”

‘Kehlani’ by Kehlani

★★★

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“Self-titled albums are often an inflection point,” said Shahzaib Hussain in Clash. Like 1993’s Janet and 2013’s Beyoncé before it, Kehlani is an “assertion of full artistic and sexual autonomy,” this one from an Oakland-born artist who turned 31 on the day of its release. But instead of subverting R&B conventions, as its predecessors did, this record turns out to be its creator’s “most fluent and faithful reading of the genre.” Kehlani, which arrives after her four previous top 25 albums, features “Folded,” which is both her first top 10 hit and already “a certified R&B classic.” And whatever Kehlani lacks in “risk or originality,” it “makes up for in songs that explore the fullness of female/nonbinary sexuality.” On “Oooh,” a standout slow jam, “sexed-up coos and stacked harmonies flower all around her lead vocal.” Several “pitch-perfect collaborations” enhance the listening experience, said Adelle Platon in Vibe. “Shoulda Never” brings in both Usher and Babyface while Missy Elliott adds swag to “Back and Forth,” a bop with a “girls-night-out groove.” There and everywhere on this self-titled “masterpiece,” Kehlani “flaunts her range—vocally, lyrically, and emotionally.”

‘Your Favorite Toy’ by Foo Fighters

★★★

“Your Favorite Toy is the second Foo Fighters album to arrive in the wake of life-altering events,” said Stuart Berman in Pitchfork. In 2023, But Here We Are responded to the deaths of drummer Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl’s mother with a clutch of emotionally revelatory songs. But don’t expect Grohl to now dissect the challenges of commitment after revealing that he fathered a daughter outside of his 22-year marriage. “Blood on the Tracks, this ain’t.” Instead, he leans into “main villain energy” on the pounding title track, sneering about nice guys before spitting out an acrid chorus that mocks anyone who’d put him on a pedestal. The whole band has exchanged reflectiveness for “high-energy garage-rock catharsis,” said Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone. On “Caught in the Echo,” Grohl asks a question that he contemplates on several songs: “Who can save us now?” He and the rest of the Foos reveal themselves to be “firm believers in the power of heroic, high-protein mainstream alt-rock as a salve against encroaching darkness.” Your Favorite Toy can be “slashing and scabrous,” but “at 10 fast, extremely catchy songs, it flies by and demands repeat immersion.”