The Divine Comedy

Steeped in humor, romance and an unwavering love of 1960s pop, Neil Hannon's crooning, jaunty tales caught the mood of Brit-pop and charmed their way to a cult following and occasional hits. The son of a bishop, Hannon's first incarnation of The Divine Comedy drew on the jangling indie of R.E.M. to release debut album Fanfare for the Comic Muse (1990) and the Edwyn Collins-produced EP Europop. But after little success the original line-up split. Back in Londonderry on his own, Hannon used a number of literary references on the critically acclaimed Liberation (1993) and Promenade (1994), before Casanova (1996) from which the single "Something for the Weekend" proved a major hit and breakthrough. Heavily endorsed by Radio 1 DJ Chris Evans and with the British music scene exploding in a euphoric resurgence, A Short Album About Love (1997) and Fin de Siecle (1998) produced the string of catchy singles "Everybody Knows," "Generation Sex," and "National Express," making Hannon an unlikely star, and often compared to Jarvis Cocker. Their sound deepened with Regeneration (2001), which pared back orchestral flourishes for a more guitar-centric, introspective tone, followed by Absent Friends (2004) in which Neil Hannon handled much of the instrumentation solo and Joby Talbot returned to lead orchestral arrangements; tracks like “Come Home Billy Bird” and the title song marked this shift. With Victory for the Comic Muse (2006) he again embraced theatrical character sketches (“Diva Lady,” “A Lady of a Certain Age”) and live-recorded intensity, then in Bang Goes the Knighthood (2010) and Foreverland (2016) he balanced wit and grandeur. Released in 2019, the concept album Office Politics addressed modern working life and the relationship between humans and machines, while his thirteenth LP Rainy Sunday Afternoon (2025) tackled the usual subjects of mortality, memories, relationships, and political/social upheaval, while retaining The Divine Comedy’s characteristic wit and orchestral pop sensibilities.

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