Written by Riley Furey
Noah Levine is fresh off of touring the world for multiple years with Noah Kahan, and now that the amount of shows has seemingly slowed down for a moment, it’s finally time for him to release more work of his own. His past artist project (and current Instagram handle) went under the name of Noah In The Open, but now that Levine is ready to enter a new phase of his career, this first single, and everything that’s still to come, will be under his full name moving forward.
Levine is most well known for his guitar playing ability, so it’s no surprise that his return with “Don’t Know Why” starts off with a complex acoustic strumming pattern that most of us could only dream of playing. The song itself is a brutally honest exploration into how phones have become the center of our world. There is no better way to explain his take on the matter, than with the lyrics on the chorus, “No sense in faking, if I could stop I would’ve done it.”
Phones have become an accepted blackhole for our time and attention, and the repercussions of this are simply too nuanced to put into one sentence. “Don’t Know Why” cries out at points by saying it’s been days since Noah has been outside, but he also goes on to say that maybe he doesn’t even want to change his routine. Our society has gotten to the point where large parts of our identity are tied into our ‘blue screens,’ and as the culture as a whole continues to navigate technology use, “Don’t Know Why” is a refreshingly raw take on the idea as a whole.
I’ve been bugging Noah for what feels like years now about when his solo work would be coming, and now that the time has finally come, it was well and truly worth the wait.
You can stream "Don't Know Why" here: