“Summer” by Don and the Divorcees goes live on all major online platforms from 26 June. This is the 3rd (and last) of 3 single releases ahead of the online release of the full “Bit Payers” album scheduled for July.
Written by Don Mackay, who also does lead vocal, “Summer” is a song about a summer roadie, where the destination may be less important than “what it is he is running away from”.
Don and the Divorcees is a collaboration among Te Whanganui a Tara singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Don Mackay, Hollie Wright and Beans Wright (no relation).
The three friends began working together together as a trio in mid 2023. Each brings their own compositions to the table and then the team works together to make the most of them.
As we each tend to write a slightly different style of song, the unifying element of our sound comes from the arrangements featuring tight vocal harmonies over multiple stringed instruments. While this gives breadth and variety to our live performances, it does make us, in marketing terms, seriously genre non-compliant.
We are a bit “old school”. Our songs are strongly centred on the lyrics, which tell stories or paint pictures, and are designed to be listened to. The instrumentation is built around a variety of acoustic stringed instruments (guitars, violin, mandolin, cello and bass). The whole approach is pretty “wooden” and low tech. We see ourselves as “spiritual folkies” performing contemporary songs.
The Story so far and what next?
The “Bit Players” album was recorded and mixed by Warwick Donald over the winter of 2024, and the recordings were mastered by Mike Gibson.
The first single “Seventeen” was released online on 21 March 2025, with a limited edition CD release of the complete album in April and the second single “Afterglow” released online on 16 May.
The full album (7 songs) is scheduled to be released on 26 July.