Book of Churches - Book of Churches
The songs drift through vans, flights, festival fields and late-night reflections, giving the album a journal-like intimacy.
There's a beautiful simplicity to 'Book of Churches', the debut solo outing from Divorce's Felix Mackenzie-Barrow. Written between tour dates and recorded at home with little more than two microphones and a laptop, the album leans fully into its DIY heart. There's no sense of polish-for-polish's-sake here, just songs full of instinct and feeling.
That approach gives the record its charm. Built around acoustic guitar and gently glowing arrangements, these are songs that breathe. Mackenzie-Barrow leaves plenty of room inside them, letting images and emotions sit naturally rather than rushing them along. The result is an album where the stripped-back moments feel especially powerful, drawing you closer to every line.
'Song By A Stranger' opens in a wandering, reflective fashion, setting the tone for a collection that often feels caught between places and people. There's a strong sense of movement across the record. Written from notes taken while travelling, the songs drift through vans, flights, festival fields and late-night reflections, giving the album a journal-like intimacy.
Elsewhere, 'All The Good Things' offers warmth and gratitude after heartbreak, while 'The Quiet Was A Heron' introduces a darker edge, reflecting on nature with a sense of reverence and unease. By the time 'Hard Ride' arrives in the final third, the emotional tangle of life on the road and the rush of new love collide in vivid snapshots.
Most of all, 'Book of Churches' feels real. Its rough edges and homespun spirit give the songs a timeless quality; the kind that makes the whole record feel less like a grand statement and more like a late-night conversation with an acoustic guitar.
