Forget About Oasis, The Divine Comedy Are Back
The chronically overlooked 90’s band have a new album coming out September 19th.
It’s never been a better time to be a popular band from the nineties. Even during the actual 1990s, cities like Edinburgh, Dublin, and Cardiff weren’t adorned with their own Oasis pop-up stores in preparation for their instantly sold-out stadium concerts. Pulp have released their first new album in decades, as have Suede (Or London Suede, as they are known in the US). So The Divine Comedy’s new album Rainy Sunday Afternoon could not have arrived at a better time.
The Divine Comedy are much less of a band, but the work of singer-songwriter Neil Hannon. I have resisted the urge to use the term ‘Britpop’ thus far, as Hannon hails from Northern Ireland, but sonically speaking, the band definitely fits within that mold. And as I’ll get into, if you are a fan of Pulp, you really have no excuses not to give them a listen.
People might know The Divine Comedy from their 1999 hit National Express, which was a celebratory anthem dedicated to the much-maligned UK bus service. The track Songs of Love also contains the theme tune used for the 90s sitcom Father Ted. More recently, Hannon wrote the music for the Wonka musical starring Timothée Chalamet.
People might have a passing knowledge of their music, but if I had to provide you with one song and one song only that demonstrates the band’s quality, it would have to be their 2006 song Lady Of A Certain Age.
The song tells the story of an elderly English lady living in the south of France. Despite living a very privileged life, her friends and family are notably absent, and she has resorted to drinking in a bar on her own and waiting for random men to buy her a drink. She tells each of these men just how old she is, and with each man, she provides a younger age. Their shocked response of “you couldn’t be” seems to be the only validation she receives.
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This is one of the many songs by The Divine Comedy that tell a story. Our Mutual Friend is a heartbreaking love story. Norman and Norma tells the tale of a bored middle-aged couple trying to find excitement in later life, and The Happy Goth is about a parent worried about their teenager listening to very sad music.
Fans of Pulp will definitely see parallels between Hannon and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, both of whom are heavily inspired by Scott Walker. You will see the same sort of witty observations that Cocker became known for in Divine Comedy songs like Generation Sex, which is a scathing critique of the somewhat hedonist culture that was growing in the 1990s. The Complete Banker is another hilarious song about the financial recession in 2008.
There are also deeply personal songs, too. Charmed Life is about the birth of his daughter, and To The Rescue is a supportive love song about his wife’s decision to quit music and set up her own animal rescue charity.
Newfound fans of the Wonka musical might be pleased to know that the new album has theatrical elements. The newly released single "Invisible Thread" is a follow-up to "Charmed Life," where his daughter is now all grown up. It contains a buildup of harmonies towards the end that wouldn’t look out of place on Broadway or the West End.
I feel like I have ultimately failed at succinctly summarizing why you should listen to The Divine Comedy. However, the sheer variety and breadth of songwriting are all part of the appeal.
But that’s enough from me, the best thing you can do is give them a listen.
