The album art for Noah Gundersen's Ledges

Noah Gundersen

Ledges

Ledges is refreshing compared to much of the folk rock on the air now. By stripping it back to basics and telling us stories, Noah Gundersen makes the genre feel fresh again on his feature-length debut.

Noah Gundersen is folk music’s it guy right now. With Ledges, his long-awaited first full-length LP, he’s really knocked it out of the winter. Listen to the presence he brings on gospel-influenced knockouts like Poor Man’s Son (I can’t find a studio version on Youtube, but it’s great).

Musically, this reminds me of the gospel peak of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in the Howl era (who were covered in Issue 6). I love Isaiah, which might be my favourite track on the record. Ledges is clearly the song Noah is gunning for a hit with. And while Dying Now is as emotionally accomplished of a folk song as a guy in his early 20s can muster, the most emotionally powerful track on the record (at least for me) is Cigarettes. Now there’s a heart-wrenching tune. I might be biased though. Not only is Cigarettes the song I would have written for a bad breakup a couple years back, the entire album is the album I would write right now if I picked up a guitar again.

Noah Gundersen feels like a breath of fresh air in a genre currently owned by pop stars and banjo-swindling electric rockers. Ledges is refreshing not because it’s a response to the current folk scene, but because it feels so natural and authentic that it couldn’t be anything less than real.

In a genre of full of fakers and people looking for the next chart hit, Gundersen is making his own way. And it’s beautiful.