Divorce have spoken to NME about “evolving” and moving forward as a two-piece – revealing that they have been writing new music with plans to release it soon.
READ MORE: For alt-country stars Divorce, home is where the art is
The Nottingham alt-country band dropped their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ in March last year, and it went on to be named as one of NME’s favourite debut records of 2025.
After playing live across the globe throughout the year, the band confirmed earlier this month that drummer Kasper Sandstrom and lead guitarist Adam Peter Smith had made the decision to leave the line-up.
In their statement, they confirmed that the decision came as they “need to prioritise our personal lives more”, and also added that bandmates Felix Mackenzie-Barrow (singer/guitarist) and Tiger Cohen-Towell (singer/bassist) will continue as a two-piece and launch “a new era for the band”.
At the Ivor Novellos last week (Thursday May 21), both Mackenzie-Barrow and Cohen-Towell spoke to NME about their new chapter and said that while they are still adjusting to the change, the songwriting has always been done by the two of them, so it hasn’t affected their dynamic too much.
“It’s always been like that songwriting-wise, but it’s a change, for sure,” said Mackenzie-Barrow. Cohen-Towell added: “We’re just really excited for the future though, and we’re excited for people to hear everything we’ve been up to.”
After teasing that there is “plenty of” new music “not too far away” from being released, the duo touched upon the sound of the upcoming material, and said that although the dynamic has changed, they will not be deviating too far from the sound that fans have come to expect.
“I think we are always evolving… and it’s natural for artists to just develop through their trajectory,” Cohen-Towell told NME. “We’re just going to do what’s right for this era, and we’re not specifically planning on a big relaunch or anything… it is just going to be what we want to do in this current climate.”
Tiger Cohen-Towell of Divorce. Credit: Ed Miles for NME
Felix Mackenzie-Barrow of Divorce. Credit: Ed Miles for NME
As for when we can expect to hear new music, the former NME Cover stars said that it has always been in their nature “to try things out live” and integrate things into their gigs to see the audience’s response.
“We start live shows again this summer, and we’re really looking forward to that,” Mackenzie-Barrow said. “We’re playing some really intimate shows along with festivals, and it’s always fun to try new stuff out in those environments. It’s a good way of road-testing the songs.”
At the start of last year Divorce appeared on 2025’s NME 100, and went on to spend last summer smashing the festival circuit following the release of ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’.
Speaking to NME for The Cover last year, the band 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.”
Since then, Mackenzie-Barrow has launched a new solo project under the name Book Of Churches and dropped his first album under that moniker in March.
The duo’s upcoming tour dates include joining Mumford & Sons at their BST Hyde Park show on July 4 before playing Splendour festival in their native Nottingham on July 19. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Speaking to NME about the BST gig, Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford said: “I would like to thank NME for introducing me to the band Divorce. They’ve just become one of my favourite bands in the world. We invited them out on tour with us. I saw them on an NME cover. I’d never heard of them but now we’re fucking obsessed with them. They’re fucking incredible and more people should hear them.”
Divorce were nominated at the Ivor Novellos for the Rising Star award this year alongside fellow former NME Cover stars Kwn and Chloe Qisha, and BBC Sound of 2026 winner Skye Newman. The award ultimately went to Jacob Alon, who also took home the Best Song Musically and Lyrically trophy for ‘Don’t Fall Asleep’.
Other winners at the 2026 awards included CMAT who won Best Album, Fraser T Smith and Kae Tempest who nabbed Best Contemporary Song, and Sam Fender being named Songwriter Of The Year.
Rosalía was also crowned International Songwriter Of The Year, while Radiohead’s Thom Yorke was handed the Academy Fellowship award by Harry Styles, and George Michael posthumously received the Academy Fellowship.
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