By Dan O’Farrell.
There’s an air of anticipation in the air at Southampton’s favourite de-sanctified church – Papillion – tonight (4/12/25). Nottingham’s hottest indie/alt-rock/Americana/country-philes Divorce are in town on tour and the place is suddenly heaving. Entering the temple as a neophyte, I have very little idea what to expect: a few listens on streaming services and some hearty recommendations from trusted friends have been enough to persuade me to haul myself out on a school-night. I’m glad I took the risk…the gig feels like a total triumph.
Scottish alt-folk band Curiosity Shop get the evening underway in harmonious style. The sight of an accordion being plugged into a large PA system has been known to require trigger-warnings in gatherings similar to this one, but Curiosity Shop quickly dispel any post-polka-band-trauma with a set of jazz-tinged modern folk that leans into quirky rhythmic pulses and sweeping melodies. Lead singer Ru Wallace impresses in particular – there’re a couple of songs where the only reference point I can find is ‘Buzzin’ Fly’ era Tim Buckley, and you can’t pull that one out very often. The band say that this is the furthest south they’ve ever played, but hopefully they can be tempted this way again: they had everyone grinning by the second song.
Divorce amble on to stage in front of a pleasingly home-made backdrop and it’s immediately apparent that there’s an interesting juxtaposition between their two main singers. Stage-left stands Felix Mackenzie-Barrow, a seemingly affable and laid-back presence, throwing out an ever-shifting panoply of guitar noises and mostly singing in a relaxed baritone, conversational and warm. Stage-right prowls singing bassist Tiger Cohen-Towell (this band has as many double-barrelled names as the famously over-monikered Saints team from 4 years ago), all sharp-angles and young-Chrissie-Hynde attitude, with a voice that can whisper-croon like Hope Sandeval’s and ice-queen keen like Kim Deal’s. The spikiness vanishes as soon as the song stops, however: like the rest of the band, she seems bowled-over by the enthusiasm and size of the crowd.
The dissonance between the two singers – visually and sonically – creates a fascinating dynamic to watch. As pretty much all the songs feature twin vocals – the voices trading verses, harmonising and intertwining – the vocal blend pulls the audience through an adventurous journey where the harmonies never get dull or predictable. It’s a refreshing mix. Behind the front two, excellent drummer Kasper Sandstrom beams beatifically bear-like, and even treats us to some Danish banter, whilst Adam Peter-Smith coaxes shards of tasteful slide from his lead guitar.
As suggested by the ‘multiple-slash’ designation in my intro, Divorce are happy to stick-or-twist genres as often as Felix changes guitars (at least once a song, sometimes twice…) The delirious audience follows their every shift, through anthemic pop, bursts of heavyweight noise-rock, slow-burn Americana, proper country-vibed ballads and a strain of pleasingly restrained louche-indie, reminiscent of 3rd album Velvets played by Belle and Sebastian. It all sounds wonderful: hard to pin down and fresh as a daisy.
I’m too much of a newbie to get the song-titles, but the melodies all land, and I’m guessing they played most of their debut album, ‘GoldenHammer’ plus some of their earlier favourites. Two of the most memorable songs of the night are introduced as ‘brand-new’, which augurs well for their next album, and one of these – ‘Christmas in the Catacombs’ (I think), featuring Yann from Curiosity Shop on accordion – is my personal highlight of the night.
It will be fascinating to see how Divorce establish themselves in a the mainstream as their audience builds. They seem well-equipped to handle larger rooms and giddy-height festival billings, and the crowd response tonight suggests that their fanbase is dedicated and growing. One to watch.
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