The possibility of taking up a pop album with orchestra should be on a medical recipe, says Neil Hannon, founder and the only constant member of The Divine Comedy. That sounds somewhat pretentious and only sensible for those who make music professionally. For a manageable group of people, but the elegant, distinguished music by The Divine Comedy was never for the mass anyway. All the more amazing Hannon’s popularity when you take a closer look: The soundtrack to “Wonka” (with Timothy Chalamet) comes from him, by no means his first work for film, opera or theater. In 2000, The Divine Comedy acted as a backing band on an album by musical star Ute Lemper.
Recommendations of the editorial team
Hannon’s own records always had a cinematic character, regardless of whether he focused on Britrock or classic chamber pop. Rainy Sunday Afternoon now sounds uncompromisingly nostalgic, the orchestra requested deliberately takes you into the past when gentlemen still wore bowler and women crinolines. The album is supposed to represent Hannon’s melancholy, thoughtful side – while with “Wonka” he lived up the high -spirited part of his personality.
He indulges in childhood memories (“All the Pretty Lights”) and literary connotations, partly very specifically as in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” or associative and pictorial like “Achilles” or “Down the Rabbit Hole”. Hannon shows that the Divine Comedy have this and now in view here and now with “Mar-A-Lago by the Sea”, an unmistakable criticism of the rich and ugly.
This review first appeared around MusikExpress 10/25.