Hannon swears by a good pair of SPANX

For some reason, it always comes as a slight surprise when you realise how long The Divine Comedy have been around. With a career spanning 10 albums and countless hits, The Divine Comedy are responsible for some of the best pop songs of the 90’s. They have always had an uncannily effortless gift for creating quirky and heartfelt songs that will have you singing for days, regardless of whether you actively like the track or not. The Divine Comedy are like the slightly embarrassing but much-loved uncle we all have. We may not acknowledge that we love them every day, but when a new record emerges, we almost wonder what we have been doing in their absence. Bang goes the Knighthood is no different, providing us with the kind of odd snapshot of our era that only the wiry voice of Neil Hannon could pull off.

The album opens with hauntingly lilting ballad Down in the Street Below, which grows in intent until you realise you’re half-believing Oliver! will pop out and tell you he wants more gruel. Usually it’s almost impossible to take Neil Hannon’s voice seriously but here he shows his ability to channel divine as well as comedy. The track jumps between emotions, subjects and tempos and is impossible to resist, the perfect opening to a Divine Comedy album. When the lines “It’s always a pleasure, never a chore” come out of your mouth, you realise how true that is of the group.

Neapolitan Girl is, for me, one of the stand-out tracks on the record, it abandons the usual slow-opening of most Divine Comedy tracks and is a furiously fun track from beginning to end. It will make you almost wish you were a Neapolitan Girl, whether you’re an actual girl or not. The track blends quirkily topical lyrics with a 50’s-reminiscent melody, they have not lost their touch.

At the Indie Disco is a track to play irritatingly loud on the bus whilst giggling about the bad-haired indie kid standing beside you. The track evokes the ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude of the era it parodies perfectly and is an entirely new sound for the group, a diamond in the rough normality for the group.

Bang goes the Knighthood is an odd choice for title-track, as it adds very little to the overall feel of the record, a slow track with overly-simplified lyrics. Assume the Perpendicular is another similar track, both inevitably inspire the ‘skip’ button as the overall record is much more cohesive without them.

The album is worth buying for The Lost Art of Conversation alone. A beautifully poignant and upbeat track which will stay with you long after it’s over. When a Man Cries evokes The Cure with its oddly placed disjointed sounds, it is one of few tracks which doesn’t descend into all-out wildness and is the better for it. Here Hannon shows a previously unseen strength to his voice. Album closer I Like may just be the happiest track I’ve heard all year.

Bang goes the Knighthood is a simple, and simply fun record, which is something we don’t see often lately and follows the same basic formula of their previous records. As with their greatest hit National Express each track is a tug-of-war between a soulfully 16th Century ballad and a jaunty up-beat and nonsensical sing-along stormer. You need only look at the cover to know what you’re in for, Neil Hannon in a bubble bath with a bemused dog, dressed like an olde worlde gentleman.

It is a sumptuous blend of personalities and sounds which in theory should never work, but in practise is...well...divinely comic.

Ciara O'Brien