With their fourth single, ‘Hangman’, from our fast approaching debut album ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’ is now out and about in the big wide scary world. The single is accompanied by a beautiful music video directed by our very own Tiger Cohen-Towell. It is funny, and features many wonderful handmade props and cameo performances by dear, dear friends and colleagues of Divorce.
I wrote the skeleton of ‘Hangman’ late one freezing January night in my mouldy bedroom in the flat I was living in in woolwich back in December 2022. had just got home from a long shift as a support worker. It was an intense job, working with one brilliant but complex individual who required 24/7 care. The job necessitated a high level of control of my emotions, a constant state of alertness, a readiness to come up with engaging activities and a total absence of self-interest.
In this kind of situation, it seemed a level of emotional numbness on my part was inevitable, like a subtle film over my senses to protect against the difficult things I encountered, or in musical terms; something like a compressor, to level out the peaks and troughs and keep a steady level.
However, supporting one person closely and consistently, it is impossible not to feel invested in their life, wanting to make things easier for them and for the people around them.
The tension between numbness and care, along with the fatigue of long hours and the subsequent adrenaline dumps from dealing with stressful and unstable situations, came together to create the conditions in my brain to write this song, which came out lyrically complete within about twenty minutes.
I used Tiger’s Omnichord, an instrument I wouldn’t usually write on, and I think its rigidity and harmonic restrictions helped in some way to unlock my subconscious mind and force me not to overthink things.
Feverishly listening back to the voice note the following morning over and over, heading back to work, it helped some things make sense to me. I only worked in the job for about six months, but it was the hardest and most rewarding work I’ve ever done and my level of admiration for the people in my team and the people working in the incredible organisations I encountered throughout is immense. There is a hidden world of wonderful people who work unbelievably hard, often overcoming great hardships in their own lives to make other people’s lives liveable. It is rarely seen or acknowledged in a wider society that is fundamentally deficient when it comes to embracing difference, illness or anything outside of the “normal”.
So that’s the story behind ‘Hangman’. Thanks for reading, there’ll be even more coming so soon!
The Fat Angel Sings 