Noel Gallagher says his ‘long, drawn out’ divorce influenced the mood of the new High Flying Birds album

Noel Gallagher says his difficult split from second wife Sara MacDonald changed the tone of his latest album and helped him deal with the prospect of a divorce.

The 56-year-old musician confirmed the end of his 12-year marriage to publicist MacDonald in 2023, blaming the pandemic and subsequent spate of national lockdowns in the UK for an unbearable strain on their relationship.

And he believes these personal difficulties influenced the musical direction of new album Council Skies, his latest album with High Flying Birds, while recording at his north London studio.

He said The sun: “Divorce is a long, drawn out process, so it certainly affects the mood of the album.”

“The record ebbs and flows, and for every kind of moody melancholy there’s an uplifting counterbalance afterwards.”

Inspiration: Noel Gallagher says his difficult split from second wife Sara MacDonald changed the tone of his latest High Flying Birds album Council Skies

Everywhere: The musician confirmed the end of his 12-year marriage to publicist MacDonald in 2023

“As an artist you write about what you know and there’s not much I can say about life in general as I don’t mind most of the things I see on the news.”

“So when things happen in your life that you can articulate, I tend to jump into them and that makes for better art and helps you deal with it.”

The Oasis legend wrote his latest album while Britain was paralyzed by COVID-19 and he admits life got monotonous and frustrating as he settled into the £8million South Downs villa he shared with MacDonald , isolated.

“I sat around all day waiting to get the fuck pissed off at five o’clock,” he recalled. “Everyone’s life had come to a little standstill.”

Gallagher has since moved out of the Hampshire estate after confirming his split from MacDonald, with whom he shares children Donovan, 15, and Sonny, 12, in January.

A spokesman for the couple confirmed the split to MailOnline in a joint statement, which read: “Noel Gallagher and Sara Macdonald have confirmed the couple is divorcing.”

“Noel and Sara will continue to care for their children together, who remain their priority.” Noel and Sara are asking the media to respect their privacy and that of our family at this time.”

Gallagher met his second wife, a Scottish publicist, at Ibiza nightclub Space in 2000, a year before his divorce from first wife Meg Matthews – the mother of his eldest child, 23-year-old model Anais.

Muse: He believes these personal difficulties influenced the new album’s musical direction during the recording sessions at his north London studio

It’s over! The couple (pictured in October 2018) issued a statement to MailOnline in January announcing their split and saying their two sons “remain their priority”.

The former couple were notorious for their party lifestyle at the height of Brit pop in the mid-90s, when they splurged on loud nights out with the notorious Primrose Hill set in north London, which included supermodel Kate Moss and actress Sadie Frost.

But after their split, it was reported that Gallagher had an affair with MacDonald during his first marriage – a claim they both denied.

The couple married at the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest in 2011 in a £60,000 ceremony attended by Russell Brand – but younger brother and former bandmate Liam said he hadn’t been invited.

“He goes on to say that he wasn’t invited to my wedding.” No one but Nic was at my wedding [ex-wife Nicole Appleton] mom and my mom. Get over it, buddy. “I wasn’t invited to his wedding,” Liam told the Chicago Sun Times.

Liam notoriously doesn’t get along with MacDonald and has had a number of public rows with the PR executive in the past.

He even hinted that she was the reason there wouldn’t be an Oasis reunion, and Gallagher was furious at Liam’s unrelenting public criticism of his wife.

The brothers themselves have had little contact in the past decade after Gallagher left the band in 2009.

Old times: Gallagher with his younger brother Liam at the height of their Oasis shame in 1995. Fans are still longing for a reunion 14 years after their acrimonious split