The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy was formed in 1989 and the only constant member is Neil Hannon. During the group’s creativity he collaborated with numerous musicians and played different musical instrument. The story of the band started in 1989, when The Divine Comedy was the trio. Their first album Fanfare for the Comic Muse was released in 1990. That record got fair reviews, however later Neil deleted it from the label’s catalogue, because Fanfare for the Comic Muse stylistics was very different from the band’s later works.

The second album titled Liberation was released in 1993. The Divine Comedy showed their new, absolutely changed sound, which included the elements of previously issued singles Timewatch (1991) и Europop (1992). It is worth mentioning that in Neil’s creations there are many allusions to the literature: the song Bernice Bobs Her Hair tells us about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story; composition Three Sisters is based upon Anton Chekov’s play. The strong album Liberation was surely noticed, however it was not so commercially successful. That record was followed by Promenade, the concept album about two lovers. That album was definitely influenced by the classical music and it received critics’ acclaim, as well as Neil’s previous work. Soon after Promenade release The Divine Comedy went on tour with Tori Amos, playing with her on European concerts. During that period of creativity, Hannon wrote several songs, which were included into the BBC shows, such as Father Ted, Tomorrow's World and The IT Crowd.

The next album Casanova was issued in 1996. Due to the single Something for the Weekend the band finally got the deserved success. A year after The Divine Comedy released their new record A Short Album About Love (1997). Again, the name of that album is an allusion to the movie A Short Film About Love, directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. In 1998 the band’s discography was enlarged by the album Fin De Siecle. The main hit from it, National Express, got the soul coloring. In 2001 The Divine Comedy released Regeneration and demonstrated the new sound, which had been created with their new producer Nigel Godrich’s help. That album received fair reviews from the musical critics, however soon the musicians stated about the splitting up. Later Hannon created band’s new line-up and in approximately a year The Divine Comedy were performing again. In 2004 they issued their eighth album Absent Friends, the atmosphere and sound of which were successfully balanced between the band’s old sound and their new material. The next studio work Victory for the Comic Muse appeared in 2006 and it surprised many fans with the spontaneous sound: many tracks were recorded within just two weeks.

The Divine Comedy’s tenth album was released in 2010. It was titled Bang Goes the Knighthood and it will be definitely interesting for the band’s old fans and for those who are not familiar yet with that unique group’s music.