Blessed Baroque Pop! The Divine Comedy is Blissing Me Out
Neil Hannon, Ireland’s national treasure
You know that feeling- the thrill that courses through you the moment you discover some new, beautiful music- just when you thought you’d heard it all. And as I type these words, I can hardly wait to finish, so I can get back to The Divine Comedy.
Neil Hannon is the man who started it all. Born in Northern Ireland in 1970, son of a reverend, and an aspiring musician in his mid-teens, he (and his bandmates) recorded The Divine Comedy debut at the age of twenty, following a debut album Hannon disowns to this day, considering it a false start. Ten more albums followed, each one a progression representing Neil’s musical gifts unfolding, expanding.
To hear Hannon’s rich baritone is to discover a man in love with melody, composition and singing, while exercising a gift for arrangement that sends his music soaring into the heavens. One hears it on “I’m All You Need,” a stunner from 1997.
Starting with backup strings, guitars and percussion, Neil’s strong, passionate baritone exudes passionate love, even as the music grows and flourishes, the orchestra soaring with an ebb and flow that brings chills and maybe even a few tears of gratitude that ethereal music like this exists.
But back in 1993, with the “Liberation” debut, Divine Comedy was more about pop, performed as if written by a teenager afflicted with crippling self-esteem issues and a bad case of runaway hormones- for, that’s the way Neil H saw himself: a lonely, introverted guy devoid of fashion sense or the social graces that would otherwise get him the girl.
“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” sounds like baroque pop from the Sixties, but even at this early stage, there’s more to bandleader Hannon than pop. One hears hints in “‘I Was Born Yesterday,” which, for all its self-deprecation, finds baroque pop struggling to the surface as the string section finally makes itself known.
“Your Daddy’s Car” and “Europop” percolate along, traces of ABBA and ELO peeking through. But with “Queen of the South” we hear something darker- something profound lurking just out of reach.
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Then comes “Victoria Falls.” Hannon’s voice takes on a life of its own- a yearning passion borne of loneliness, offered by a man driven in his search for love and meaning. Hannon’s gift for arranging comes alive here, call-and-response vocals eliciting a thrill, a promise of something incredible soon to come.
And it’s with “Lucy,” the album’s closer, that we get a glimpse of the incredible. Is it that descending, darkening chord progression that resolves back to sunlight? Is it Neil’s tender vocals leading us on to something higher? A French horn enters, adding dignity and a formality to Neil’s voice that lets us know Divine Comedy will never be just about pop or rock.
We hear it in “Promenade,” DCs next album, where Hannon gets his classical on with lush arrangements that display his admiration for Jeff Lynne and ELO.
Things take a turn for the ribald with “Casanova.” Sex, romance and a decidedly schoolboy leer are the threads running through many of the tracks, “Something for the Weekend” and the stately but cheeky “Frog Princess” landing Divine Comedy on the musical map in the UK.
For all its focus on the seamy, though, this album features some of Hannon’s most polished work to date. While several tracks bear more than a passing resemblance to Belle and Sebastian’s brand of angst, it’s “Songs of Love” that reminds listeners of the beauty Hannon can create when he wants to. The track sounds like a simple folk song before becoming an inspired singalong, thanks to Neil’s gift for arrangement. It’s beauty itself.
The all-consuming beauty of Neil’s musicality shows up again in the afore-mentioned “I’m All You Need,” from DC’s 1997 EP. It has to be heard to be believed, leaving one to wonder how Neil felt as he crooned his way through that golden moment of inspiration.
1998’s “Fin De Siècle” has many fine moments, Neil Hannon getting better with each album. “National Express” is a fine pop tune, though the album’s centerpiece has to be “The Certainty of Chance,” a stunning achievement that is arguably better than “I’m All You Need.” Featuring orchestra, band and a haunting choir section, it feels like a cross between a lush James Bond soundtrack and a regal symphonic movement.
Jumping ahead to 2001 and the “Regeneration” album, we hear what could pass for Neil Hannon’s theme song, “Love What You Do,” for he surely does- and it shows in his inspired arrangements and Bono-style singing. Such beauty is conveyed through “Lost Property,” a brooding, majestic, melancholic track that brings to mind Radiohead at its best.
“Absent Friends,” from 2004, shows us a brighter side to Hannon’s Divine Comedy with “Come Home Billy Bird.” And in 2006 the cheery mood continues with a bouncy, banjo-driven “Mother Dear” and the baroque-pop ballad, “A Lady of a Certain Age.”
While there are surely other great Divine Comedy songs out there, I have yet to hear them- a search I’ll gladly undertake on this most pleasing voyage of discovery…
