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Divine Comedy: Neil Hannon
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The Divine Comedy is the alias for Neil Hannon, a British pop singer/songwriter with aspirations of becoming a new wave fusion of Scott Walker, Morrissey, and Electric Light Orchestra. During the early '90s, he built up a strong cult following with a pair of idiosyncratic, critically acclaimed records before his third album, Casanova, became a mainstream success in the wake of Britpop and Pulp's popularity. "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "Something for the Weekend," both pulled from Casanova, became hits after receiving significant airplay from Radio 1 DJ Chris Evans, and the Divine Comedy moved from British indie rock favorites to a minor mainstream cult in their own right.
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Neil Hannon, the Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who bills himself on record as the Divine Comedy, is the kind of musical personality they just don't breed in America. Equal parts Scott Walker, Burt Bacharach, Michael Nyman, and No?l Coward, Hannon pokes fun at all aspects of modern life and culture in his lushly, sometimes kitschily arranged pop ditties.
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The Divine Comedy released their first album for new label Parlophone Records in March 2001. Recorded with producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead / Travis / Beck) ‘Regeneration’ had a much greater emphasis on the six members of the band. No orchestra or choir here, ‘Regeneration’ was about going back to the basics – ie, the songs. The Observer said: “Regeneration marks, for Hannon, a personal and musical breakthrough”. Laura Lee Davies in Time Out said: “Hannon has finally created an album as complete and deftly wondrous as you suspected he was capable of; every track shines with a love for music and a growing ability to articulate.” The Times said “A subtle collection of gorgeous pop songs. Combining the lyrical dexterity of old with some spectacular melodies, this is an album that lives up to the promise of its title”.
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One more Divine Comedy song in which Audrey Hepburn plays the lead, and Neil Hannon plays everything else. I suppose if you crammed me into a nice old leather armchair, stuffed a cigar in my gob, a daquari in my hand, and a Cole Porter disc on the gramophone, you might get some sense out of me regarding this song. However, it all seems a bit too much like hard work at the moment, so tough luck!
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The Divine Comedy’s next album, ‘Absent Friends’ was produced and largely performed by Neil himself. It was released on 29th March 2004, preceded the week before by the single ‘Come Home Billy Bird’. Long-standing collaborator Joby Talbot orchestrated the album, which was recorded by Guy Massey and mixed by Nigel Godrich. The album ... features guest appearances by Xfm DJ Lauren Laverne and French multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen. The album spans a time during which Neil experienced the disbanding of the old Divine Comedy line-up, the birth of his first child, extensive US touring and moving from London to Dublin. These events affected both album title and content and on the subject Neil says: “Most of the songs use stories and characters as a framework for the loose theme of coming, going and not being quite sure where you want to be”.
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This wasn't actually The Divine Comedy's début. They had released a quickly deleted album as a proper four piece before all the members quit bar Neil. The freedom and lack of interest afforded the groups continued future allowed Neil the opportunity to create this work in an atmosphere of seclusion apart from the regular rock and pop scene. It shows, its simply beautiful - and whilst not quite perfect gets pretty damn close to being an absolute classic.
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Neil Hannon