Country can be a bit of dirty word in music – conjuring up cheesy images of stetsons and rhinestones.
However, stick an ‘alt.’ in front of it and you have something a bit more accessible to many music fans. Take Divorce, whose sound is, as the band themselves say, “alt-country/grunge(ish)”.
And the slide guitar on ‘Eat My Words’ or the decided hoedown (including the video) that is ‘Checking Out’ bear out this description, as do the plaintive vocal and harmonies shared by Tiger Cohen-Towell and Felix Mackenzie-Barrow throughout the Nottingham quartet’s back catalogue.
Formed in 2021, far from Nashville, the foursome – Adam Peter Smith and Kasper Sandstrøm completing the lineup – met as teenagers through the city’s close-knit DIY scene and self-released a clutch of singles (gathered in EP ’Get Mean’.
They then signed to Gravity Records (Universal Music) for their acclaimed ‘Heady Metal’ EP, before filling 2024 with a raft of international festivals and tours with Bombay Bicycle Club, The Vaccines and Everything Everything.
Feeling “like we were being dragged through a hedge backwards – in a nice way!” – the quartet have honed their craft in a live setting, although rather than trawling across Route 66 they’re more familiar with the M1, as documented on debut single ‘Services’.
With this has come me a diversification in their output, drawing on indie-rock, folk and chamber pop to create a sumptuous, rich sound worthy of their crafted, considered lyrics.
All of which leads us to debut long player ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’, the band’s fantasy location and fictional refuge from the world at large.
The album’s 12 tracks were brought to life with producer Catherine Marks (boygenius, Foals, Wolf Alice) at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, in the pastoral Bath countryside. Far from their native Midlands, but as Tiger says: “We’re very proud of ‘Goldenhammer’. We got to make an album the way we wanted to, kept the weird parts in, followed the warmth and didn’t overthink it.
“This album pays homage to seeking place and home; one of the great human levellers. Much of life feels at odds with this particular need. And to Goldenhammer; you are a reason to keep driving. We will find you again and again!”
‘Drive to Goldenhammer’ is out now. This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth News.
Also chief newshound at Jockrock
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