We find parts of ourselves detaching from each other. DIVORCES, the bold and articulate debut album from UK London-based art rock four-piece devices ruminates upon this severance of self and celebrates a strength born from difference.

Recorded in Leeds, UK, with producer Bob Cooper (Pnau, Citizen, WSTR) and additional stem mastering by Matt Arthur (Gabi Garbutt, The Violet Hum, The Coo), DIVORCES marks the beginning of an ambitious and confident new body of work.

Progressing in sound and scope since their energetic independent debut EP Husband #1 (2024, Red Tongue Music), DIVORCES opens with the single release Ballad of the Gods’ Cove, a rising wash of cymbals and thunderous bassline. “Love is a mirror, both storm and sea,” sings devices’
Robin Footitt, setting the tone for a mythical story of two Gods, the God of Passion and the God of Reflection, who fall in love and seek refuge as mortals in a cove that bears their name, as the waves fast approach, asking intrusive questions about the status of their relationship.

devices (Photography by Remi McQuen)

Devices formed in the summer of 2022, with guitarist Fadi Borgi alongside bassist Martin Llavallol and drummer Louis Richardson (Joana and the Wolf, GUTTS), accelerated their collaborative songwriting when they added vocalist and lyricist Robin Footitt in early 2023. Their output to date
consists of electric live shows to a growing core audience across London, six singles and Husband #1 EP, which weaves the sound influences of their international roots (Martin grew up in Argentina; Fadi in Lebanon and France) with their solidarity as four gay men making music reflecting upon genres which would often conflict with their own sexuality in their formative years.

“I’ve liberated a lot of anxieties through songwriting,” Robin explains. “I shape songs around the life I’m living, and there is a nervous excitement in recounting perspectives to male relationships that aren’t openly shared. In most cases, it seems much easier to paint them out of the picture entirely.”

There is a rebellious, playful element which threads through this concise set of solitudes. Rapid and urgent, DIVORCES delivers pure personality as a confident 11-track introduction to devices.

Available on Spotify: