For fast-rising Nottingham quartet Divorce, home is more of a lingering feeling than a fixed location, woven into the miles they’ve travelled and the songs they’ve poured themselves into. Made up of Tiger Cohen-Towell (vocals/bass), Felix Mackenzie-Barrow (vocals/guitar), Adam Peter Smith (guitar/synth), and Kasper Sandstrøm (drums), the band came together through their city’s tight-knit DIY scene, officially forming as Divorce in mid-2021.
After a substantially lengthy period of touring their EP Heady Metal and playing international festivals, the band finally cloistered themselves into North Yorkshire residential studio Calm Farm. It was in that rural and almost familial setting that Divorce demoed their first full-length album, channeling the eerie nostalgia of childhood TV, and their personal relationships with growth and identity to build a vivid collage of travel and memory.
“Those days – even though we were in a fairly serene setting – we were getting up, eating breakfast, working as hard as we could for as long as we could, from early morning, late into the following morning,” explains Felix. “It was very cathartic because it was the first time we’d really had blocks of days where we could consistently work as a four and it left its mark on the record completely.”
Shaped by long drives through middle England and recorded at renowned Real World Studios, the album finds the band grounding themselves amid constant motion, forming a unique blend of pastoral folk, country, and chamber pop. From chimerical Midlands landscapes to Vaudevillian theatrics, Divorce’s Drive to Goldenhammer is a journey through movement, nostalgia, and unexpected beauty.
Placeless movement
A constant through the band’s creative process has been the transitory and sometimes ephemeral nature of being eternally on tour. Among the lyrical inspiration behind the album, Felix cites American author and nature writer Bary Lopez: “There’s a lot of travel in [his] writing, and that feels like a good thing to read for me because it can be quite hard to stay grounded when you’re travelling a lot, which we have been as a band, trying to retain a kind of through line, through what feels really chaotic.”
Divorce’s sound carries the weight of constant motion – the blur of passing landscapes, the quiet disorientation of waking up somewhere new, and the search for familiarity in the unfamiliar. It’s a feeling that seeps into the group’s latest offering, where restless melodies and shifting textures mirror the ebb and flow of life on the road. The place ‘Goldenhammer’ – for any curious reader – is indeed fictional, a blend of East Midlands scenery and the members’ childhood memories. “I think it’s definitely set in a slightly surreal version of middle England, which makes sense because we spend a lot of time driving around the UK, doing shows and finding a home among that and among movement with each other,” continues Tiger.
[The album] is definitely set in a slightly surreal version of middle England, which makes sense because we spend a lot of time driving around the UK, doing shows and finding a home among that and among movement with each other.
Pastoral symbolism and newborn calves
It’s in the bucolic landscape of the English hinterland that Divorce finds that lived-in comfort, juxtaposed with a sense of strange melancholia recalling Britain’s beloved claymation Wallace & Gromit and telly-centric living room sitcom The Royle Family. “It’s slightly claustrophobic, in the old Wallace & Gromit especially, you never really see what the street looks like. You just see glimpses, so you kind of imagine all the rest of the stuff yourself,” points out Felix. “Both are set in times just before we were born or just after, and that time has inherently a spooky, eerie nostalgia where you think, ‘Oh, that feels recognisable’, but actually I wasn’t quite fully conscious of that stage, and the world was still taking shape in my consciousness. I think that plays into the record in a big way.”
Similarly, album opener ‘Antarctica’ was inspired by a palpably symbolic exploit set in rural Derbyshire, in which Tiger and Felix rescued a newborn calf from a country road: “It literally had the umbilical cord hanging off it, and it was wet, it was crazy,” they recount. “It was all just very familiar ground for us as Midlands people, but also very unfamiliar, because neither of us are farmers and know much about livestock, but this baby cow was so sweet and amazing.”
Although they both contemplated the fairytale-like scenario of freeing the baby animal by running away and adopting it, the two musicians returned it to its pen and remained wondering about its fate. “Among other things, it really inspired the song lyrically for Felix and it also informed a lot of visuals that the album eventually had. The experience that we shared was definitely fuel for Drive to Goldenhammer, it felt like it came at the right time – fated, almost.” says Tiger.
Enjoying each other’s unconventionality
A significant motif throughout Divorce’s genre-bending record is the joy of growing and embracing each other’s differences, both in life and in music. This is particularly evident in ‘Pill’, a track that feels like a patchwork of queer awakenings, fleeting moments, and raw introspection. The song moves fluidly between time and experience, capturing a night of self-discovery, childhood reflections, and the bittersweet rhythm of a long-distance relationship. It unfolds like diary entries, unfiltered and deeply human. “The rest of the band just pushed it to its limits, really, and I think we all enjoyed the unconventional aspect of it,” Tiger explains.
In many ways, this spirit defined the entire writing process – trusting instinct, allowing songs to take shape organically, and finding beauty in the unexpected. With a sound that defies structure and lyrics that invite connection, ‘Pill’ resonates deeply, particularly with queer fans who see themselves in its fragmented yet deeply personal storytelling. “I’m really glad I’ve had quite a few people reach out to me, especially queer fans, and speak about them loving the meaning of the song and feeling like they could relate to it,” they continue. “That’s the nicest feeling in the world really, to know that people resonate with your writing when you’re bearing your soul a bit.”
Vaudevillian theatre
With both Felix and Tiger reaping the creative benefits of their acting backgrounds, it’s no surprise that theatre played a role in the visual shaping of Drive to Goldenhammer and the band’s overall repertoire. “There is a theatricality to it, but there’s also nostalgia,” points out Tiger.
“A big visual influence for the album has been Vaudeville, the 1910s-20s theatrical culture,” they add. Similarly to the early 20th-century variety entertainment, the album sports comical, irreverent lyrics to satirically lighten more sombre situations. Lead single ‘All My Freaks”, is a testament to this spirit, spearing right into the ego of a daunting music industry with vibrant guitar riffs, dazzling synths, and a touch of British humour.
“If we were to build a set [inspired by the album], it would probably be an old theatre in the north of England with a big painted backdrop, but the paint is really old and peeling, and all of the people that work and perform in the theatre are really tired, but really funny,” Tiger jokes.
If we were to build a set [inspired by the album], it would probably be an old theatre in the north of England with a big painted backdrop, but the paint is really old and peeling, and all of the people that work and perform in the theatre are really tired, but really funny.
Pockets of warmth
Resounding the feeling of comfort and familiarity, Divorce creates some much sought-after pockets of warmth across the album. That warmth isn’t just a sonic choice – it’s a philosophy that underpins the entirety of the record. The album’s foundations were recorded live, giving it an organic, homely feel, something the band deliberately leaned into as both a reflection of their Midlands roots and a form of refuge from an increasingly difficult world. “Sometimes warmth is something that you have to make for yourself,” Felix explains, referencing the album’s folk, country, and bluegrass influences.
That sentiment and sense of connection are central to the band’s ethos, and can be found again in the open-heartness of Drive to Goldenhammer and in their collaborative creative process. Felix mentions ‘Karen’ as an instance of how creative friction was smoothly resolved into the track he’s most proud of.
“When we first started working on it, I felt like there was immediately something really special about it. Tiger wrote ‘Karen’ lyrically and melodically, and we worked from there. The melody was just something I would never write myself, but that was exactly one of the most inspiring parts of working on it,” he continues. “I guess that’s why you’re in a band with people who you value and whose work is different to yours, that’s the reasoning. You don’t want to be in an echo chamber – what’s really uplifting is working with other musicians who challenge you and come up with things that your brain just wouldn’t produce.”
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