“He’s Never Said This Before”: Bon Iver Gave Noah Kahan's ‘Downfall’ the Ultimate Compliment

During a Q&A and performance at the GRAMMY Museum this week, Noah Kahan and Aaron Dessner delved into an array of songs from Kahan's 2026 album, The Great Divide. Dessner was a key collaborator and producer across a host of songs on the project, including ’End of August’, ‘Porch Light’, ‘Dan’ and ‘Downfall’.

While discussing the latter, Dessner revealed that his good pal and frequent collaborator, Justin Vernon - the man behind Bon Iver - gave Kahan's vocal performance the ultimate compliment. Bon Iver contributes backing vocals and instrumentation to a number of gems on The Great Divide, including ‘Spoiled’ and ‘Lighthouse’.

Dessner began, “Justin Vernon, Bon Iver, who's a close friend, who sings on ’Downfall’...He's never said this before. But like, listening to Noah's vocals...‘cause I played him [‘Downfall’] and I was like, ‘Maybe, this would be so beautiful if you would harmonise with Noah’, and Justin's so gifted doing that. And I remember he was like going through the vocals, like, ‘Dude, like, I can't make this better’”.

Dessner recalls that Vernon went on, “I can't find it. I can't sing that high, I can't sing that well’”, with Dessner underlining how this was tremendously lofty praise, coming from an artist who has become synonymous with his haunting, otherworldly falsettos, “For Justin to say that, it was definitely...I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe you can't’”. He warmly confesses to Kahan beside him, “I didn't tell you that part”, with Kahan gushing, “That's perfect, thank you so much. That's an honour, man”.

Kahan has cited Vernon - who forms one half of The National with Dessner - as one of his biggest influences throughout his career, with fans still hoping we one day get to see the Vermont native and Bon Iver joining forces for an official studio collaboration.

Dessner and Kahan's partnership has become a crucial element of the latter's success, as has Kahan's longstanding relationship with Gabe Simon. The Great Divide showcases this trio's ability to capture deeply vulnerable sentiments and raw, evocative narrative while still adding in experimental new textures and sumptuous production.

It's also true that, while his voice was not his main selling-point early in his career, Kahan has honed his delivery, with his spellbinding vocals accentuating the emotion of songs like ‘Lighthouse’, ‘End of August’, ‘Orbiter’, ‘Porch Light’ and so many others.

With ‘Downfall’ one of our favourite songs from The Great Divide, we're excited to see Kahan performing this one live during his forthcoming UK and Europe run of shows this Fall.