Divorce is a folk-indie band that formed in 2021, and has slowly but surely been making their way onto the national stage, especially with their debut album Drive to Goldenhammer. Having just performed a handful of intimate in-store shows around the country, Divorce are taking a small break before their headline tour across the UK at the end of March.

Speaking to vocalist and bassist Tiger Cohen-Towell, they began by discussing the whirlwind of responses and events since the album released, ‘It’s great; the release week went really well, the in-stores we did in the record shops were really nice, everyone seemed to enjoy them. We’ve had nice comments and nice press, and for me on a personal level, it couldn’t have gone better.’ 

Drive To Goldenhammer was written and mastered over the course of a year, and has a comforting, warm tone that resonates through the record. The ‘Goldenhammer’ is a lyric lifted from the closing track, ‘Mercy’, which Tiger expanded on, ‘I think the point of it is that a big theme of the album is transience, placelessness, and living your life on the move. Things moved very quickly since we started Divorce four years ago: we’ve been touring a lot, doing a lot of stuff pretty consistently, and it has had a massive impact on all of our lives. Part of it is the ring and the image of the Goldenhammer in the album name and artwork felt instinctively right, but I feel the real onus is on the drive. We wanted to make it a fictional place that evoked a nostalgia for something that you’re going towards, but may never arrive at – I think that’s what we are doing as artists, and what everyone in the world is doing to some degree.’

Divorce was formed in Nottingham, though the band had separately been immersed in the scene there for a while before formally assembling as Divorce. Although no longer all residing there, and not necessarily feeling like a Nottingham band, the city still holds significance to Divorce. ‘Nottingham for me is our most important crowd,’ Tiger explained, ‘it’s my home city, it’s the band’s creative home city, and we talk a lot about Nottingham because it was the scene that we were all nurtured on, so it’s important to us. It doesn’t get as much credit for how powerful the scene there is, despite the critically bad arts funding and decreasing amounts of DIY venues – the venue where we performed our first Nottingham gig has closed down, and that was absolutely devastating.’ Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon trend in the UK; despite large charities like the Music Venue Trust having backing from artists, big industry names, and a large team, independent venues are still shutting down left and right due to a lack of government funding. 

One of Drive to Goldenhammer’s strongest songs, ‘Pill’ was the third single to be released from their album, and an absolutely beautiful track to boot. Segmented into three distinct sections with soothing, nostalgic vocals, it is a song that explores Tiger’s experiences as a queer person. ‘The response has been lovely,’ they explained, ‘it was very personal about my own journey as a queer person. It always feels – I can’t speak for every queer person – but I sometimes feel that putting myself out there not only makes me vulnerable, but that I’m taking up unnecessary space. So it was a big challenge for me to say “no, this isn’t unnecessary, this is your song.” This isn’t even us saying something political, it’s just my personal experience. I think it’s really important that art reflects life, and that the parts of yourself that are more vulnerable aren’t hidden in the art, because then that takes a degree of honesty away from the writing.’

They credited the band heavily not just with the composition, but also their support of writing something so personal. ‘It was a weird one to drop as a single, because it’s in such a strange structure. In terms of arrangement, it was a real joint effort, and they really trusted this idea that I wanted to do a song in three parts. It also reflects on what a lovely environment I’m in musically, I’m very lucky to be in a band where I’m with three guys that really uphold my voice. You sometimes see bands with token non-male members, and I’m very lucky to be in a group where I’m definitely treated as an equal and made to feel as important and indulged as the only non-male member.’

There is a side to the music industry that casts an ugly shadow, one of two-faced contracts and big corporations using artists for their own profit. But there is so much good in the industry too; good-natured camaraderie, hard work, and talent, all founded on mutual respect and a love of good music. Tiger was particularly thankful to their manager, ‘I would like to shout out our manager Ryan, he’s been with us since the start of 2022 as a manager, prior to that he was more of a slightly informal booking agent, but he did book us a whole tour. But we liked him so much, and he offered to manage us. He’s the only manager we’ve ever had, and I don’t really see us having another manager; he’s such a good-hearted person, he’s genuinely passionate about music. I’ve never known him to work with a band he hasn’t loved and he sees musicians as people. The music industry is literally commodifying art, and I definitely don’t think there shouldn’t be money in the arts, but there are certain cultures within the industry that strip artists of their dignity. People prize what they create so much, and the fights surrounding who takes home that money really goes against what the art is all about. But we’ve been extremely lucky to have Ryan; he’s just our good friend and confidant, and he’d back us to the end. I’m extremely grateful to have him in our corner; he’s like our music dad!’ 

Divorce have released their debut album Drive To Goldenhammer, and will be performing in Birmingham at The Castle and Falcon on March 29th.

You might also like:

Album Review: The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow

Single Review: Chappell Roan – The Giver

Album Review: JENNIE – Ruby