ThisIsTheMusic

There’s a restless emotional tension running through DIVORCES that makes it impossible to ignore. The ambitious debut album from London art-rock four-piece devices isn’t simply a collection of songs – it’s a record about fragmentation, identity, intimacy and finding strength in the parts of ourselves that begin to detach.

Across 11 urgent and atmospheric tracks, devices blur the boundaries between art-rock, post-punk and widescreen indie, creating a world that feels simultaneously euphoric and emotionally unravelling. Relationships fracture, anxieties surface and reflections of self begin to splinter apart, but beneath all that uncertainty lies something strangely empowering.

Recorded in Leeds with producer Bob Cooper, with additional stem mastering from Matt Arthur, DIVORCES represents a sizeable step forward from 2024 EP Husband #1. Thunderous basslines collide with shimmering guitars; nervous energy gives way to vulnerability; deeply personal songwriting meets moments of genuine sonic ambition.

There’s rebellion and playfulness here, too. As four gay men whose formative relationships with some of these musical genres could often conflict with their sexuality, devices aren’t interested in sanding away those contradictions. Instead, DIVORCES embraces them.

The result is a debut packed with personality. Here’s DIVORCES, track by track.

1. Ballad of the Gods’ Cove

And what an opening statement.

A rising wash of cymbals gives way to a thunderous bassline as devices immediately establish the scale of their ambition. There’s something almost mythical about “Ballad of the Gods’ Cove”, which is entirely appropriate given the story at its heart.

Robin Footitt constructs the tale of two Gods – Passion and Reflection – who fall in love before seeking refuge as mortals in a cove bearing their name. As the waves approach, so too do the intrusive questions surrounding their relationship.

“Love is a mirror, over both storm and sea,” Footitt sings, neatly encapsulating many of the contradictions that will occupy the next ten tracks.

Musically, devices allow the tension to steadily build rather than chasing an immediate payoff. Guitars shimmer around that enormous rhythm section before the whole thing expands into something increasingly consuming.

An ambitious, dramatic opening that throws the doors to DIVORCES wide open.

2. Best Tunnel To Dig

If the opener establishes the world of DIVORCES, “Best Tunnel To Dig” immediately starts digging beneath its surface.

Rapid, wiry and restless, the track carries a post-punk energy, driven by an urgent rhythm section and guitars that slash across the mix.

Yet devices understand that abrasion works best when there’s melody waiting underneath. The tension repeatedly gives way to flashes of something bigger and more uplifting, creating a push-and-pull between claustrophobia and release.

It’s one of the album’s most immediate moments and a demonstration of just how tightly this band can operate.

3. Drag Shadows

The lights dim considerably on “Drag Shadows”.

Dark, hypnotic and beautifully atmospheric, this is devices leaning into the more immersive corners of their sound. Bass prowls underneath layers of guitar while Footitt’s vocal carries a detached, almost ghostly quality.

There’s space here, and devices aren’t afraid to use it.

Rather than filling every available second, the band allow the track to breathe, meaning that when those layers begin to swell they carry considerably more weight.

Nocturnal, uneasy and quietly compelling, “Drag Shadows” feels like wandering through a memory you’re no longer entirely sure happened the way you remember it.

4. Cupid Throws a Brick

With a title like “Cupid Throws a Brick”, a straightforward love song was probably never on the cards.

Instead, devices deliver romance with bruises.

Guitars arrive with considerably more aggression, drums hit hard and the track threatens to spill into chaos without ever completely losing control. Melody remains crucial, though, preventing all that volatility from overwhelming the song.

It’s that contrast that makes “Cupid Throws a Brick” work so well: affection and destruction existing within the same space.

Messy, sharp-edged and infectious.

5. Ideas Laid Out Like a Pattern To Follow

One of DIVORCES’ most intriguing moments.

“Ideas Laid Out Like a Pattern To Follow” is built around repetition without ever feeling repetitive. Guitar motifs circle around a hypnotic groove as devices gradually layer additional textures into the arrangement.

It feels almost cyclical – appropriately so for an album concerned with relationships, behaviours and parts of ourselves that can slowly become disconnected.

There’s an emotional exhaustion buried underneath the track, but the musicianship remains incredibly controlled.

The more you listen, the more details begin to emerge.

6. Oh Margaret

“Oh Margaret” provides DIVORCES with one of its more intimate moments.

There’s a warmth and vulnerability to the track that immediately distinguishes it from its surroundings. The arrangement gives the melody room to breathe, allowing Footitt’s vocal to occupy the centre of the song rather than battling against the instrumentation.

The result is beautifully bittersweet.

For an album so fascinated by fractures and separation, “Oh Margaret” feels like a moment when devices allow themselves to simply sit with the emotion rather than run from it.

Quietly affecting.

7. Turn Them Down (It’ll Be Okay)

Then comes the release.

“Turn Them Down (It’ll Be Okay)” carries an altogether more reassuring quality, pairing driving rhythms with soaring guitars and one of the album’s most cathartic emotional payoffs.

There’s still melancholy running beneath it – DIVORCES rarely allows anything to be quite that straightforward – but hope begins forcing its way through the cracks.

That parenthetical “It’ll Be Okay” increasingly feels like a mantra rather than merely a song title.

After spending much of the album pulling itself apart, this feels like the moment DIVORCES begins putting some of the pieces back together.

8. Party.

Don’t let the title fool you.

“Party.” might possess an energetic exterior, but beneath it lurks something altogether more complicated.

Propulsive percussion and shimmering guitars give the track movement, yet there’s an unmistakable sense of loneliness hanging over proceedings. It creates the strange sensation of standing in a packed room while feeling completely disconnected from everybody inside it.

That contradiction – euphoria rubbing against isolation – is exactly where devices thrive.

Dancing through an emotional collapse has rarely sounded quite this enticing.

9. Palm Springs

“Palm Springs” opens the windows.

Expansive, hazy guitars give the track a sun-scorched cinematic quality, providing another shift in texture as DIVORCES enters its final stretch.

There’s a feeling of escape embedded within the music – open roads, distant horizons, somewhere else – although devices never completely surrender to the fantasy.

Because what happens when you arrive?

Can changing your surroundings really change what you’re carrying with you?

That uncertainty gives “Palm Springs” its emotional pull. Dreamlike and reflective, it’s one of the album’s most visually evocative moments.

10. Ghost of Fun

Even the title feels like a perfect devices contradiction.

“Ghost of Fun” isn’t necessarily concerned with joy itself, but the shadow it leaves behind.

There’s a colder quality to the arrangement, with the instrumentation leaving enough space for the emotional weight to creep through. Melody remains ever-present, however, and that refusal to completely surrender to bleakness is one of DIVORCES’ greatest strengths.

The track steadily gathers power as it progresses, becoming increasingly affecting without needing to reach for some enormous artificial climax.

A haunting penultimate chapter.

11. Guiding Lights Slower Nights

And so DIVORCES reaches its destination – although “Guiding Lights Slower Nights” wisely avoids providing all the answers.

Instead of closing with an enormous explosion, devices opt for reflection.

Shimmering guitars and a weary vocal create the sensation of empty streets and blurred lights passing through a car window in the early hours. After all the nervous energy, fractured relationships, intrusive questions and emotional contradictions that have preceded it, there’s something resembling acceptance here.

Not resolution, necessarily. Acceptance.

And that distinction matters.

As the final moments disappear, DIVORCES leaves behind the impression of unfinished conversations and relationships whose impact continues long after they’ve ended.

It’s an understated but deeply appropriate ending.

With DIVORCES, devices have created a debut album overflowing with personality, emotional complexity and sonic ambition.

Across 11 tracks, the London four-piece continually move between tension and release, intimacy and detachment, chaos and clarity. Art-rock ambition meets post-punk urgency, while deeply personal songwriting ensures that beneath all the shifting textures there remains a beating human heart.

Crucially, the band’s perspective gives DIVORCES an identity entirely of its own. There’s a nervous excitement to Footitt’s exploration of male relationships and experiences that aren’t always openly shared, while the band’s collective relationship with musical genres that could once feel at odds with their sexuality adds another fascinating layer.

Rather than running from those contradictions, devices weaponise them.

That perhaps explains why an album centred around severance ultimately feels strangely empowering. DIVORCES finds strength in difference, beauty in fragmentation and liberation in finally articulating the things that are usually left unsaid.

Most impressive is how fully formed the whole thing feels. This doesn’t sound like a band tentatively figuring out what they want to become. It sounds like four musicians discovering exactly how much territory they can occupy.

Some debut albums introduce a band.

DIVORCES kicks the door off its hinges.

Divorces is available to on multiple physical formats here.

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