'Absent Friends' by The Divine Comedy

‘Absent Friends’ was released during what must have been an unsettling time for Neil Hannon. Regeneration, the album for new label EMI, had sold an unspectacular number of copies, and he’d recently said goodbye to his entire band, some of whom had been around for a number of years. Little wonder, then, that ‘Absent Friends’ is a slightly melancholic album. Even upbeat songs, like the title track have something of a sting in the tale – “happy days, we thought that they would never end – but they always end.”

Because Hannon writes in character so often, it’s difficult to make assumptions, but there are plenty of clues throughout the album that Hannon is writing more personally on this record. ‘Absent Friends’ is surely a nod to the band members he’d recently lost, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that ‘Sticks And Stones’ may be a comment on the fan reception of the previous album. ‘Leaving Today’ speaks for itself, as does ‘Charmed Life’. It’s unusual to see so much of Hannon himself in his work.

Musically, ‘Absent Friends’ gave Hannon the chance to spread his wings a little after the musical restrictions of ‘Regeneration’. The title track, and opener, revels in its orchestrations, as do the two songs that follow. ‘Sticks And Stones’ has a fantastic accordion line courtesy of Yann Tiersen, though the chorus lets it down a little. ‘Leaving Today’ and ‘Our Mutual Friend’ are as sumptuous as anything in his career. There are only a few simpler moments – ‘Come Home Billy Bird’ is a relatively straightforward indie-ish track, and ‘My Imaginary Friend’ is the most stripped back – and also the most light hearted.

As an album, it has real strengths, and however much I loved ‘Regeneration’, it was good to hear Hannon returning to form when it was released. However, it does lack the humour common in most of his other albums – understandable under the circumstances, but a shame never-the-less. As a result of this, ‘Absent Friends’ feels a little less than the sum of its parts, but as its parts are so good, it gets away with it.