The Divine Comedy: Absent Friends : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Fans of Neil Hannon's lush, literate brand of orchestral chamber pop who despaired over the comparative asceticism of his previous release, 2001's Regeneration (and the reported disbandment of the Divine Comedy) can now relax. With the first cascade of horns on Absent Friends -- reminiscent of a 1950's Disney soundtrack -- Hannon announces a return to doing what he has always done best: crafting songs that marry savvy, often coruscating lyrics with paradoxically luxurious harmonies. And those lyrics are as biting and observant as they ever were, whether applied to love ("You and I go together like the molar and the drill," he sings in "Sticks and Stones") or the perils of business travel (witness "Come Home Billy Bird"). By turns touching and exhilarating, Absent Friends presents compelling evidence that, as its title suggests, Hannon has been gone for far too long.