Neil Hannon is returning to Edinburgh with The Divine Comedy and has just released a new album Rainy Sunday AfternoonsÂ
Neil Hannon returns with The Divine Comedy and his first new album since the top five record Office Politics back in 2019. Since then, Hannon wrote the soundtrack for the musical blockbuster Wonka (2023) and last month released a new Divine Comedy long-player, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, which also hit top five album sales.
Two Scottish dates are lined up to support the release, with the bandleader taking the stage at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall next year and Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall later this month. The Derry-born and Enniskillen-raised singer formed The Divine Comedy in 1989 as a vehicle for his absorbing melodies, unorthodox arrangements, and rich lyrical scope, drenched in humour and pathos. Casanova was released during the height of Brit-pop and provided a mainstream breakthrough with hits such as “Something For The Weekend,” “The Frog Princess,” and “Becoming More Like Alfie”.
So began a period of notoriety for Hannon, with him often appearing on album and magazine covers, looking like an icon from another era. A string of popular singles continued with National Express, which entered the UK top ten. How does he feel about the resurgence of bands from the 1990s enjoying a new wave of success? “They all had the advantage of going away for a while: Pulp, Suede, Oasis. I didn’t have that advantage as I couldn’t split up with myself. It’s nice they are all having a good time this year, but I hope people don’t forget about me. I was only a footnote in the Brit-pop thing, this interesting bit in the appendix, ‘Oh, there was the weird chap,’ and that’s fine. I plough my own furrow; I can’t do anything else.”
While Hannon is modest about his durability, he’s built a devoted following of fans over decades. His live shows are packed with hits, but rather than lean on past glories, he continues to make arresting new albums. “Part of it is to do with writing about yourself and your life honestly, you’re a different person from the 90s and interested in different things. I can’t write another Something For The Weekend or National Express, it’s about where I am now and what I see. As long as you try to do that without trying to get chart hits, people like that and understand the merit in you still making records. I wouldn’t even call them pop albums, they are just music”.
Soldiers and war have been a recurring theme in Hannon’s writing. He wrote Achilles after reading a newspaper article about the World War I centenaries. “There’s been quite a lot of military references since Foreverland (2016) and Office Politics (2019), part of that is to do with my slight obsession with Napoleon.
“I like history, and there’s something about that period which is intoxicating to me; there’s a weird glamour to it all, even though I’m a complete pacifist, it’s more about the uniforms and the grand egos. I hate violence, but then again, I’m a pragmatic pacifist; World War II had to happen, we couldn’t just let fascism take over. If Putin invaded Eastern Europe one day, you would have to go and fight, there’s nothing else for it, and that’s a crazy idea.”
Invisible Thread finds Hannon writing about being a father while reflecting on his own parents. “I was mostly thinking about me and my daughter, that’s my job done, what do I do now? I’ve procreated, so should I go and lie down in the corner of a field? That doesn’t seem very uplifting. My father died a couple of years ago, but I’m faced with him every day I look in the mirror. I recently saw a photograph of him in his early twenties, and to say he looked like me on the Casanova album cover was an understatement; it was a carbon copy, it was terrifying. You are just connected whether you like it or not, and we should just enjoy that aspect”. Hannon particularly enjoyed writing the music for Wonka after being asked by director Paul King.
“I often wondered if this might happen. I crossed my fingers and prayed a fan might attain a position of great power and come looking for me, and finally, Paul King came looking for me. He thought his Wonka should be a musical, and he could only think of me…if he couldn’t get Tom Waits. I was perfect for the job, I’ve got to say, I was born to it! I love writing music that sounds like it was written 100 years ago, and I love musicals pre-1970, anything after that I largely dislike. I was so excited to do Wonka, and I loved the original film (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). You grow up with these songs, you can’t imagine a time they didn’t exist; they are like these eternal things, and I always wanted to write songs like that. It was amazing to be given the opportunity”. While the Divine Comedy set-list changes with each new album release, Hannon’s galloping 1994 track Tonight We Fly remains an essential staple.
“It happened early on during the Casanova tour,” he explains, “I think we tried it in other places, but it’s always so good at the end. It left you feeling energised, and the audience can bounce up and down. It became unmovable and the end of either the main set or the encore, because after you play it, you have to walk off the stage”. Before we finish, I suggest it’s become an expectation, otherwise the audience might feel shortchanged? “I’d feel shortchanged,” laughs Hannon, “I’m in my mid-50s now and I need things that get me excited and get me moving”.Â
The Divine Comedy will play the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, on 20 October, and the Usher Hall, on 3 July 2026
Rainy Sunday Afternoon is out now
