The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood

Since departing from his previous record company ‘by mutual consent’, Neil Hannon has not stood idle. Last years The Duckworth Lewis Method received much critical acclaim, his collaboration with Thomas Walsh possibly the only concept album yet to be released about cricket. Its seems to have reignited his muse, particularly for a more idiosyncratic form of song-writing, where rather than singing about the old staples of love and romance he prefers instead to sing of matters most people would regard as trivial and unworthy of note. His tongue is very much embedded in his cheek, as evidenced in the album cover, sat in the bath, with a rather embarrassed looking dog wearily looking skyward at the awkwardness of the situation.

As usual in a Divine Comedy record, there is that endless wrestling match between two contrasts – the ‘serious’ side, his silky croon and quivering vibrato over sensuous melodies on one side, cut against a silliness that barely manages to get on the right side of annoying ridiculousness. Songs like ‘The Complete Banker’ tread a knife-edge between cutting satire and the sort of song Richard Stilgoe might bang out on ‘That’s Life’, one note jokes which cease to be amusing during the first listen, reducing sharply the chances of any repeat airings.

There is a richness to the production here, but without the bombast and orchestration of his previous album Victory for the Comic Muse. Occasionally, things are slightly indulgent, particularly on the title track, but by and large there is a greater subtlety at work here. Debut single ‘At The Indie Disco’ is a gentle grower of a song, slightly old fashioned in both sound and sentiment, the lyrics appealing enough but belonging to his generation rather than anyone born since the days of Britpop .

The albums most whimsical moment is sensibly tucked away at the end, ‘Can You Stand On One Leg’ flying close to the sun in comedy song terms, managing to be inventive and quirky enough to have merit. The two best songs are the album though are stunners, ‘When A Man Cries’ one of the best songs of his career musically if not lyrically, with ‘I Like’ a fine album closer, rollicking and infectious with buckets of charm. There is much here to like on this album, but the over abundance of whimsy would I imagine alienate some listeners, and as a whole is no real improvement over his last effort.