The Divine Comedy: “I mean, everything you go through is part of the next record. But also, there are a few songs that date back as far five to 11 years”

For my money one of the finest acts ever to hail from Ireland, throughout their career, the Divine Comedy have broadly had two gears: uproarious pop anthems and, on the flip-side, introspective, Scott Walker-style torch songs. As may be gleaned from the title alone, DC’s latest offering, Rainy Afternoon, leans heavily toward into the band’s more plaintive side.

“Oh it does,” says main man Neil Hannon. “I feel this one owes a lot to the stuff I liked on the record player at home, especially during lockdown, which was Glen Campbell and Neil Diamond, to an extent. Particularly Neil Diamond’s country-inflected records, which use the orchestra as a big, lovely landscape. I really wanted to use the studio in that way, and not go half-arsed on it – I needed it to sound like the best possible thing it could be.

“Which was weirdly not the case in the past; I have tended to kind of go, ‘Ah, that’s grand’, and move on. Whereas this time – I think it’s because I’m getting older and there might not be too many of these left! – I just went for it. When we were doing Wonka, we did most of it in Abbey Road 3, and I was thinking, ‘I just wanna make one record here before I die.’ So I did and it was great.”

I wonder if there’s an autobiographical element to the record, with the past few years having seen the sad passing of Neil’s father, Church of Ireland minister Brian Hannon.

“Oh yeah, it’s all part of it,” he says. “I mean, everything you go through is part of the next record. But also, there are a few songs that date back as far five to 11 years. So it definitely runs the gamut of my middle age. But I guess, ever since lockdown, things have been a little bit gloomy generally.

“Also, it sounds terribly superficial, but we remodelled the house a bit and I was stuck in rented accommodation for a year. It messed with my head – I really wanted to go home. It’s like, ‘Be careful what you wish for!’”

The title track is a standout, capturing the uniquely painful moment that follows an argument in a relationship – albeit offset with a beautifully jaunty melody.

“That is about a matter of no importance, in a way,” says Neil of the song. “It’s raison d’être is to be a slight grumbly muttering. It’s like, ‘I’ve just had a tiff with the wife and everything in the world is wrong!’ You know how you feel after an argument – it’s like nothing can ever be nice again (laughs). So I was trying to capture that; it’s more of a Carole King mood in the music.”

BIGGEST MOVIE STAR

It’s been a particularly successful few years for Hannon, with he and bandmate Joby Talbot composing the music for the 2023 blockbuster Wonka, starring possibly the biggest movie star in the world currently, Timothée Chalamet.

“I was absolutely astonished to be a part of it,” reflects the singer. “It shows, if you just cling on by your fingernails long enough, something will come good (laughs). Cos I always jokingly said to people, ‘I can’t help but feel there’s somebody out there, a Divine Comedy fan, who will eventually attain a position of great power and they’ll come looking for me. And lo, it came to pass – it was incredible. So good old Paul King, I owe him a lot.

“In terms of the writing, it was so different from one song to another. With some, the first thing I did, they all went, ‘Yeah, great.’ And then the next one, I did about 15 versions before they were into it, so it really depended. There was one song that I did so many versions of – and then they cut the scene! But I recycle – these tunes are always repurposed in the end.

“And with Timothée Chalamet, I felt very lucky they cast somebody who can sing, and who was really good in it.”

I first became a big Divine Comedy fan in the mid-’90s, when Hannon was was about to have a major moment in the limelight, commencing with the 1996 album Casanova, and continuing with UK top 10 hits like ‘National Express’ and ‘Generation Sex’, in a period which also saw him famously write the music for classic sitcom Father Ted.

Was he definitely shooting for pop star status?

“Was I?” asks Neil rhetorically. “Despite the fact my first two albums were quite weird, there were still pop tunes in there. I’d grown up on Top Of The Pops and Radio 1, and I really wanted to be a pop star from about the age of 14. I gradually convinced myself that it would happen. It was only after it had all dissipated that I started to go, ‘Oh my god, there were so many instances where that might not have happened.’

“And I looked down – it was awful. At that time I was just like, ‘Yep, I’m there, it’s gonna happen.’ I remember vividly being in the back of a cab in Paris, and the girl from the record company had just got off the phone. She said, ‘You’re number 14 in the charts with ‘Something For The Weekend’.’ I just sat back and went, ‘It is done!’ In a way, that’s when I could relax finally and get on with it.”

I subsequently caught Divine Comedy in Dublin Castle in 2001, when they were touring that year’s album Regeneration. In a bid to reinvent his image, Hannon had shed his trademark foppish attire in favour in favour of a classic indie look – a shift emphasised by the fact there were no hits in the set. Certainty, it was a big swing.

“That was the bit of the wobble, really,” Hannon admits. “I apologise for my 31-year-old self. You’ve got to have these moments. I actually rate the album – a lot of people like it and that’s nice. But it was a bit of a cul de sac creatively. It’s always like, ‘I just know I could be as good as Radiohead if I put my mind to it.’ (Laughs) So we got Nigel Goodrich in!

“Because suddenly we were on a major label and they paid for him – and I think those three albums on Parlophone, they’re still trying to pay off. But it’s all for a good cause, which is trying to work out what to do next, and along the way you get some good tunes.

HOT STREAK

Going back to the ’90s, Hannon’s hot streak also saw him providing backing vocals on the Robbie Williams hit ‘No Regrets’, alongside that other great Neil, Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys.

“All I really remember was thinking I’d done a really good job, and then hearing that Neil Tennant had had the brainwave of going to the mix and saying, ‘Turn up my vocals.’ So you can just about make me out! It’s mostly the other Neil you can hear (laughs).”

Robbie was obviously a big fan.

“He kind of was, and I enjoyed basking in his reflected glory,” says Neil. “But the reason ‘National Express’ was such a big hit was because we did a whole Robbie Williams arena tour at that time. Playing to 3000 people every night up until the release of the record really did the trick.

“I must say, the most delightful thing happened after Wonka came out. There were a few people sending me videos of their kids singing the songs, and I found that adorable. And then, I got one from Robbie with his daughter singing ‘Scrub Scrub’. It was so weird, but so lovely.”

• Rainy Sunday Afternoon is out now. The Divine Comedy play as special guest of David Gray at Live At The Marquee, Cork (June 13 & 14); SSE Arena, Belfast (16); and Fairview Park, Dublin (17).