Divorce have surprise released a deluxe version of their debut album ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’. Check out the emotive new single ‘Wendolene’ below.
The former NME Cover stars shared their debut record on March 7 via Gravity/Capitol. It was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire with producer Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Foals, Wolf Alice).
Now, the band have surprise released a deluxe edition of the album, which features three new songs: ‘Wendoline’, ‘Chip’, and ‘O Calamity’. The latter was shared last month as their first new music since the album dropped.
The deluxe version also comes with early demos of the songs featured on the original tracklist, as well as BBC Radio Sessions. The latter includes a live cover of Queen‘s classic ‘I Want To Break Free’.
“On our debut album ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’, we sought to build a makeshift place and home within the songs and each other amidst the transience of our lives on the road over the last few years,” said singer and guitarist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow.
“With the ‘Drive to Goldenhammer Deluxe Edition’, along with live versions of some of the album tracks, you’ll hear unreleased songs and demo recordings that landed somewhere on the outskirts of ‘Goldenhammer’, like ‘O Calamity’ and ‘Chip’ or ‘Pretty Lights and ‘Tiny Animals’,” he added.
Check out the music video for ‘Windolene’ below.
Speaking about that song, the band shared that the track captures them “beginning the journey onwards, towards wherever it is we feel we want to go.”
“‘Wendolene’ hints at what lies beyond ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’, bridging a gap toward our next chapter,” explained Mackenzie-Barrow. “And whilst we tried to maintain the surrealism of the record, this edges into something darker than most of our debut record.”
The singer continued: “Also, as a band we’re obsessed with Wallace And Gromit, so this song pays homage through its title to A Close Shave, and if you have a sharp eye you may see a very niche reference to the film in the music video!
“Whilst we were recording we sung to pictures of Wendolene [Wallace And Gromit character] and Cilla Black, which I think if you listen carefully is very obvious in the vocal performance.”
At the start of the year Divorce appeared on this year’s NME 100, and they have spent the summer playing smashing the festival circuit. This month also saw them open for The Maccabees at All Points East in London and support Bombay Bicycle Club at their shows in York and Liverpool.
Next month, they’ll embark on a North American headline tour, before returning to the UK in November. Find tickets to UK shows here and visit here for US tickets.
Divorce’s 2025 headline shows are:
SEPTEMBER
17 – The Rockwell, Somerville, MA, USA
18 – Elsewhere Zone 1, Kings County, NY, USA
19 – Pie Shop, Washington, DC, USA
20 – MilkBoy, Philadelphia, PA, USA
22 – The Sound Garage, Toronto, ON, CA
25 – Schubas, Chicago, IL, USA
27 – Baba Yaga, Seattle, WA, USA
29 – Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA, USA
OCTOBER
2 – Gold-Diggers, Los Angeles, CA, USA
NOVEMBER
28 – La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, UK
29 – The Grove, Newcastle, UK
DECEMBER
3 – The Globe, Cardiff, UK
4 – Papillon, Southampton, UK
5 – Arts Centre, Norwich, UK
6 – The Lido, Margate, UK
9 – Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, UK
10 – Academy 2, Manchester, UK
11 – Trinity Centre, Bristol, UK
13 – Rock City, Nottingham, UK
This spring, the band spoke to NME for The Cover and opened up about their time starting out in Nottingham’s grassroots music scene with a “self-sustaining” community of artists.
“When you don’t get a lot of outside interest, you don’t have much choice but to make it yourself,” Mackenzie-Barrow said. “Sitting in the van on your way to a show and looking around at these friends that you have, sitting in the garden in the house where we wrote the songs, having dinner together. Those are the moments that feel like success.”
