You can probably tell something about a band from their entrance music. Metallica use Ennio Morricone, Ozzy Ozbourne opts for Carl Orff.
Nottingham four-piece Divorce instead opt for ‘I Can’t Go Back to Savoury Now’ by John Shuttleworth (probably easiest if we give you a link so you can marvel at and ponder the significance of such an off-the-wall choice of musical scene-setter).
Divorce aren’t a comedy outfit. Stylistically, they’re hard to define, though we’ll come to that later. Indeed, there’s no messing around as they open with the close a cappella harmonies of Tiger Cohen-Towell and Felix Mackenzie-Barrow on ‘Fever Pitch’ – a brave move which, as the pair are perfectly on-key, pays off handsomely.
Not that this crowd need much convincing – clearly fans of Top 20 (yes) album ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ the quartet are made very welcome very quickly, with Tiger, seemingly without a trace of showbiz insincerity, saying: “This is the best city – I can’t believe you sold this out”.
Bands touting their debut album will often lack material for a headline set, but in the case of Divorce, they practically had a complete album’s worth of material under their belts before working on their breakthrough long-player. So, following the jiggy ‘All My Freaks’, recent-ish single ‘Gears’ features a soaring two-part vocal duel between frontman/woman, but sporting a harder beat than some of ‘Goldenhammer’s tracks. Indeed, its epic breakdown could easily have heralded the climax of an epic set, just three songs in.
It should be said that while Felix and particularly Tiger are leading the way Divorce are very much a four-piece unit – guitarist Adam Peter-Smith, despite being tucked away at the back of Stereo’s deep stage, often taking on the lead as well as offering some nice bowed work in quieter moments, while Kasper Sandstrøm’s percussion skills are perfect for the shifts in feel and tempo, even dispensing with sticks for some subtle open-handed work late on.
But what becomes obvious early doors is Tiger’s prowess as a frontwoman – blessed with the ability to effortlessly trade harmonies with her partner-in-song, she also has abundant vocal power available, allowing her, on ‘Karen’, to step way back from the mic but still make herself heard among the din around her.
There’s also banter aplenty, with all four band members chipping in – support band Dug’s track ‘Cumberland Gap’ being relocated to “Cumbernauld”, and Kasper, aparently, suffering for the lurgy – “Please buy merch, so he can get better”.
The band also trawl their back catalogue – taking us “way way back” – er, to 2023, for ‘Sex And The Millennium Bridge’ as well as ‘Eat My Words’ and ‘Scratch Your Metal’ – all three tracks gathered on the ‘Heady Metal’ EP, the latter pair possibly the introduction to the band for many here having becoming staples on alternative radio.
As the set moves towards its premature end, Tiger ups the ante, on ‘Where Do You Go’ sashaying and high-kicking her way around the stage, the live arrangement bettering the version on the new record – as does closer ‘Hangman’, driven by the guys at the back.
Such is Stereo’s setup, the band spot that coming off stage would be pointless, so instead they do a “pretend” encore, hiding behind Stereo’s pillars (or in the case of Kaspar simply ducking behind his kit).
Given the brilliance of their set, it shouldn’t really matter, but hey – what pigeon hole do we fit Divorce into? They’ve covered indie, pop, folk, rock, even dipping into Stereolab territory on ‘Antarctica’. The question is in fact answered, in part at last, by the band themselves – Tiger stating that while that they aren’t an alt.country band, their closing number is very much that – a version of ‘Checking Out’ that gets the crowd moving into an impromptu hoedown.
Sadly there’s no room for a second encore (early single ‘Birds’ would have rounded off a perfect evening) but as John Shuttleworth would have said: “My taste buds would go crazy”. Divorce certainly left this Glasgow crowd hungry for more.
Also chief newshound at Jockrock
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