On Faux Folk, or Indie Pop’s Newest Persona

This week, Noah Kahan’s fourth studio album, “The Great Divide,” will be released to an audience eagerly awaiting the singer’s next installment of his melancholic narrations of New England life. Deemed one of the decade’s emerging stars amid the resurgence of folk-esque music, Kahan’s release might be one of the most anticipated of the year.

This being considered, the current trend of every soft indie rock star being thrown into the folk category overlooks the deep traditions ingrained in genuine folk music, simplifying the genre’s true mission of resistance. To the new “folk music” fans attempting to rebel against popular culture with Kahan and his compatriots in their Spotify queue, reflection may be necessary after being misguided. Although there might be an emergence of quieter, more reflective popular music, this does not indicate a turning back to our roots, nor a shift away from pop music’s expectations of mass appeal.

The folk tradition originates from rural communities, and it aims to provide a gathering space for communicating shared experiences. Central to this tradition is the idea of resistance, where folk musicians refuse to conform to the modernization of a society that attempts to subject rural communities to their new standards.

In the face of this modernization, folk music serves as a lifeline to those excluded in more ‘developed’ circles — this exclusion involving Southerners for much of American history, especially Black people and residents of Appalachia. American folk music allowed for the expression of overlooked individuals’ experiences, and it played into the regional musical traditions, often merging with country and blues.

With folk music’s vital force pushing back on a society that often inflicts elitism and exclusion on its rural communities, folk is not simply a genre that any guitar-plucking, wailing, or melancholy artist can imitate.

When the sound reaches a wide audience it can be a cause to celebrate, as the dissemination of any art that challenges a restrictive status quo can only help further the social critique within it. Beyond this, more recognition of rural culture is necessary for our society to break away from the elitism that only values art forms that are popular among wealthier, more urbanized groups.

Yet, Kahan and others in this so-called “folk” reemergence do not achieve the goals of this folk tradition. Rather, as their music gains popularity they fall into pop music’s tropes aimed at a perfect 15-second sound bite for short form content. This group of artists abandons the core of the folk tradition, co-opting its title to aid in the eternal competition of niche playlists and underground music taste between many social media users.

Originally from rural Vermont, Kahan chronicles the experience of living in rural New England. Stereotypically, he fits the general public’s perceived profile for a folk musician. Yet, as he leaped to fame with his 2022 album, “Stick Season,” his music became more of an aesthetic of outdoorsy heartbreak rather than a conduit communal experience. Kahan found incredible success following this record, and his lyricism allows many to relate to his tunes that, admittedly, also play into society’s expectations for folk music.

However, this project — and Kahan’s singles released before “The Great Divide” — have a clear pop bent to them. Of course, mass appeal increases one’s ability to succeed, so a musician striving for this quality makes perfect sense. Unfortunately for his genre classification, however, folk music is antithetical to our current milieu of popular music.

In both “Stick Season” and “The Great Divide,” several of Kahan’s songs are laced with typical pop production. Contrary to folk’s oral tradition and its often slimmed down production style, these songs are clearly meant for spectacular arena performances. Both albums’ title tracks — which feature Kahan’s more polished production and lovelorn lyrics — feel more reminiscent of the 2010s indie pop and rock renaissance that brought artists such as The Lumineers to the world stage. These easy ear worms shot both artists to the top of the charts.

With no insult to the talent of these musicians, their intentions of creating music with mass appeal rids them of their folk status. This elicits the question, though, that if an eye toward trends prevents a full immersion into folk tradition, how popular can folk music truly become?

Considering American folk musicians whose music spread across the world, like Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, who themselves balance the line between folk and rock music, their more subdued and scruffier styles lean more into the folk tradition. Although still not necessarily embodying the full tradition of oral transmission and the communal experience of creation and performing, their music still branches away from typical pop or rock music, showing some divergence from mass appeal.

Yet, two conditions are necessary to produce music that honors the tradition at the heart of rural culture: The Southern Appalachian and Black communities that created the genre should receive proper recognition for their artistic contributions, and our attention-commodifying social structures must change and value longer, slower, and more engaging artworks that require critical thinking and true community. Whether this demand for catchy, and superficial music is a problem within new folk musicians themselves or our current attention economy remains difficult to parse through.

Although people who cultivate niche music tastes via algorithms might lose their claims of obscurity if these newer “folk” artists are removed from the folk category, the solution can be turning instead to one’s own community, one’s own sources of creation and local music. If the mere idea of this kind of music is really in demand, society might be truly yearning for the folk traditions of oral transmission of communal stories, a deeper understanding of one’s community, and the creativity that stems from a collective experience.

To the many Kahan and new “folk” music fans, this argument does not attempt to critique the quality of their music, but rather provide an alternative with the more personal, communal folk tradition that honors its origins. This is a story that can be found in our own backyards, which serves to recognize a shared struggle and resistance to our status quo.