Dave Chamberlain

The brainchild of Neil Hannon and contemporary to the glory days of Brit Pop, The Divine Comedy's first record since 2001, "Absent Friends," is an idiosyncratic, over-orchestrated piece of cotton candy. It is also absolutely sincere, goofy and glorious. Hannon's sardonic, almost inherently sarcastic singing voice remains the motor behind the Divine's Comedy's combustion, an engine able to evoke thoughts of The Smiths while sounding nothing like the Smiths. Musically, "Absent Friends" has so much pop acumen that you wouldn't be surprised if it were carbonated, but that's not really Hannon's strength. As a lyricist, he remains unmatched. Though a few tracks from "Absent Friends" reveal a man leavened by life (Hannon recently became a father), and are hence gloriously sappy (the title track, and a parting ode to his family, "Leaving Today"), at times Hannon's wry wit spews forth unabated. You don't launch into a song with the line, "You and I go together like the molar and the drill" (from "Sticks and Stones"), without a very literary (or perhaps just British?) sense of humor. He reveals a fancifully clever observation in "The Happy Goth," without criticism, when he opines, "The music you play/I'm not saying it's bad/It just seems terribly sad/Is everything all right?" Those already in on The Divine Comedy and those just discovering Hannon's underrated brilliance will absorb "Absent Friends" like water in the desert.

The Divine Comedy plays September 17 at Schubas, 3159 North Southport, (773)525-2508.

(2004-09-14)

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