Drive To Goldenhammer | Divorce | Album Review
- Eleanor Mussell
- Apr 21
- 8 min read
Released: March 2025
Run Time: 43 minutes 51 seconds
Country: England
Type: Album
Genre: Indie/ Alternative
Listen While You Read
I have been dying to talk about this album ever since I listened to it for the first time. I heard ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ initially on a train journey after discovering and falling in love with the song ‘Lord’ earlier that week. It blew my mind completely. It is one of those albums that convinces you that, yeah, maybe there are some ten-out-of-ten albums out there, and this is one of them. Each song has its own charm and uniqueness to it, you are kept consistently entertained and impressed, and it is an automatic album of the year addition for me. Goldenhammer is a fictional location for Divorce that represents belonging and a sense of home, and this album is the journey there. There is a strong theme of travelling and lots of mention of cars as the band took lots of inspiration from their car journeys together.
Let’s break the album down into songs because they each individually speak for themself:
Opening the album is soft, country-inspired ‘Antarctica’. The muted, strummed guitar introduces this upbeat song with a more emotionally motivated story. Felix Mackenzie-Barrow (Vocals, Guitar) explains that ‘Antarctica’ is a song about recovering after a long relationship, something he experienced directly before writing the song. The lyrics also explicitly describe the rescuing of a baby calf by Felix and Tiger (Vocals, Bass) from the middle of the road when they were driving one night. They returned it to the farm without knowing its fate. The implied meaning drips through into the song. I really enjoy the layered, call-and-response style vocals in ‘Antarctica’, and it sets the album up really well. The drum beat feels like a drum machine, but it complements the dampened guitar and strings perfectly.
I have ‘Lord’ to thank for introducing me to this album after it popped up on my Discover Weekly, and I became immediately obsessed. Another upbeat song, ‘Lord’ plays on the theme of desire, especially at a younger age. The lyrics ‘I’m a Seahorse, and I need a little sugar’ signify the vulnerability of the animal; this can then be applied to a young person in terms of love and desire. The first verse is accompanied by drums, a guitar riff, and Tiger’s vocals. New instruments join as the song progresses, to then be launched into this incredible pre-chorus of harmonies. The chorus was (and still is) stuck in my head; it’s unusually catchy, and the song transitions from indie pop to rock just for the chorus. There is a part at 2:40 where the harmony changes slightly at the end of the chorus that tickles my brain in all the right places; it’s incredible.
The definition of a fever pitch is ‘excitement and agitation’, and this song surely demonstrates that. These lyrics are difficult to decipher, but I enjoy that. What I do take from it is a theme of agitation between people, maybe not wanting the same things, and struggling to agree on that. Whenever I hear the gospel-esque intro to ‘Fever Pitch’, I know I’m in for a treat, it solemnly introduces the theme for the entire song in beautiful harmony before the instrumental even starts playing. A wonderful guitar riff magnificently assists the transition between sections, including playing the song out at the end. There is a synth sound that travels through the entire song that sounds like a theremin; it’s so dreamy, and leaving this instrument on its own at the end of the song was a great choice.
When I saw that this song was called ‘Karen’, I instantly assumed that it would be a comment on ‘Karen culture’, but upon listening to it, it definitely isn’t. Divorce’s lyrics are so clever and obscure that it’s often up to interpretation what the meaning behind the lyrics is. I believe that this song will have a strong meaning for the band members and is perhaps about a specific event for them that the average listener will not understand. ‘Karen’ has a unique sound; it feels ominous to me, it builds and builds as you progress through the song. It is relatively soft despite the dissonant chords for the opening, as Tiger delivers some stunning vocals. She is joined by drums as the song builds to the epic climax with chunky, heavy bass and a brilliant guitar solo. The remainder of the song is purely instrumental, with the odd screamed vocal from Tiger that is reminiscent of classic rock. This is such a powerful song that, I hope inetnionally, transitions into the next track.
With equally split vocal parts, ‘Jet Show’ is a funkier addition to this album with a prominent bassline and rhythmic drumbeat. From my perspective, this song feels like a message to a partner or lover that aren’t exploring as vividly as the person singing in terms of life, love, and intimacy. The line ‘breaking all the chains off’ suggests that this person is breaking free from metaphorical restraints to live the life they want without judgment. I love the split vocals in this song, and it is unique to Divorce; it’s not often you hear vocals being shared between two members of the band, and I think it’s magical. They’re not singing to each other, and that is clear; their voices melt together entirely, even when one is singing softly and another is shouting loudly. The line ‘kissing you with open eyes’ towards the end of the song quite literally gives me goosebumps.
A slower, more relaxed track, ‘Parachuter’ is about being human. With lyrics relating to personal struggles and reflecting on what went wrong and what went well. The lyrics in this song are some of the most explicitly understandable ones, performed beautifully by Tiger and Felix. I personally love the lyric ‘takes a lot to make a person, half as strong as you deserve them, I will try to be that person’, it resonates a lot and will most likely do the same to many listeners. Harmonised the entire way through, this laid back tune is an easy listen with summery backing where you can still hear the country elements seeping through as they do throughout the album.
Every year, I make a video to wrap up my entire year, and I always choose a song that perfectly fits the vibe. ‘All My Freaks’ is already that song. There’s something just so nostalgic-feeling in the synth-led chorus. I can see myself dancing with friends to this song. The lyrics in this song seem like they’re making fun of people who live glamorous lifestyles, whilst they are happy just knowing they belong where they are. It’s becoming one with your background and your journey, it’s beautiful. ‘I can learn to hate myself again’ suggests that there has been self-hatred that has been moved through and processed throughout this journey. This is probably the most energetic song on ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ and is totally sing-along-able.
Led primarily by Felix, ‘Hangman’ begins with the twang of a guitar and reverberating drum beat, then joined by an omnichord. This song toys with the idea of judgment from yourself and others, often harsh and unkind. Often, this judgment comes when one is being selfless. The theme of ‘hangman’ suggests that the person whose perspective it is is asking to be reconsidered and viewed in a less judgmental light. For a rather heavy topic, the song is catchy with its repetitive lyrics and uplifting melodies.
This song is a journey in itself, it changes pace, style, and energy many times. The song begins with an electronic riff that slowly fades out as strings fade in, to then are joined by guitar and some more electronic sound effects. The majority of the first verse is sung on one note by Tiger, allowing you to really hear the words. After the first section, it slows suddenly to a solitary piano accompanied by reverbed vocals. There’s a point where the reverb is removed to a completely stripped-back few lines. The music becomes happy once again as the song continues, Felix rejoins the vocals, and we’re played out. ‘Pill’, to me, is an exploration of an awakening, and the ‘pill’ represents how quickly this awakening has taken place. The secon section seems to explore early queer relationships with lines such as ‘the blood is rushing to her cheeks, she swings so close to me’. The song is transformative both in its themes and its musical styles.
Starting with a dissonant accordion and strings, you’re led into an emotional lyric delivery from Felix, accompanied by a piano. You can tell that this song is full of feelings of loss. It feels like a love lost but not regretted, with lyrics referring to finding the person again in time. It’s almost as if the ‘broken string’ is noticed and processed, but not completely accepted, and is carried with them through the process of moving on. The strings in this song are absolutely heavenly alongside the piano and continued impressive vocal harmonies from Tiger and Felix. It builds throughout the track, and although the choruses are repeated, it feels different both times. This song really makes you think and feel, it is just inexplicably wonderful.
Taking a big leap from ‘Old Broken String’, ‘Where Do You Go’ feels more grunge and indie-sleaze. Picking out themes of movement and never settling could be a comment on touring as a band or travelling a lot in general, with ‘you can’t plan a week in Brigadoon’, another fictional town. Opening curiously with bass and drums playing simultaneously, and Tiger’s ominous vocal delivery. The chorus starts softly, then builds to the collaborative ‘where do you go’ lyric. We return to the previous instrumental from verse one with slightly more aggressive vocals. It’s a very different song compared to the rest of the album, but it carries the same message about belonging and appreciating where you came from.
This song is about pure, true love. It touches on the sweet parts of love, like spending quality time together, and also the more intense, less glamorous sides to love too, but always returning to ‘I’ll always love you like that’. Introducing the song is a strummed acoustic guitar, keeping the song simple to blend with the simple message. There is another instrument that I can’t quite figure out that joins during the chorus, which adds a dreamy effect to the song. For a lot of this song, Tiger and Felix sing in octaves rather than in harmony, which is different from the other songs on ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’; it could represent a coming together as the final song and the end of the band’s journey together, as other band members also join in. It’s the perfect ending to an incredible album.
Please listen to this album yourself and make your own observations, as I believe that a lot of these songs can be read in more ways than one. It is an amazing album, and Divorce deserves so much success from it; you can tell a lot of effort and love was put into making it. I have the honour of going to see Divorce live later this year, and I can’t wait to see this album come to life in front of my eyes.
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