The Divine Comedy - Victory for the Comic Muse

Neil Hannon - Northern Irish inventor of the fine, insightful and dry lyric - sets sail again in the good ship Divine Comedy now apparently single handedly, as this, the 'Comedy's umpteenth album, sees him credited with production and writing responsibility on nine of eleven tracks. Unmistakingly Hannon throughout, 'Victory…' is a real grower, getting better with each careful listen and appreciation of the themes and clever musical arrangements (Hannon employs a musical smorgasbord of instruments). Mother Dear is a beautifully melancholy, mandolin-driven number whilst A Lady of a Certain Age is delicately moving and evocative of a classic 60s love song. Further decades are echoed on Threesome and The Plough, which could easily have been performed between the Wars and watched by people smoking cigarettes through empty biros. A classy offering from a classy songwriter. [Jon Seller]