The Divine Comedy – ‘Rainy Sunday Afternoon’ album review: majestically written musings on mortality
There are far worse things than a rainy Sunday afternoon. It can’t all be barbecues in roaring sunshine forever. Metaphorically, as in life, things move through cycles and seasons. Finding cosy comfort in the bosom of a trough is as important as appreciating the wild rise of a peak in the search for meaning and contentment. Pop music rarely reckons with that as firmly as it does here.
For the most part, Neil Hannon has used The Divine Comedy as a vehicle to celebrate the chripy victories of the human comedy. But following the sad passing of his father and his favourite dog, the world’s slide towards deepening division, and a stint serving up surgery joy for the Wonka soundtrack, a worry seemingly arose that more of the same might have led to some form of a diabetic songwriting coma of platitudinal dishonesty.
As a result, the band’s 13th album might be their most morose yet honest effort to date. Musings on mortality are everywhere on the record, from the rather wry ‘The Man Who Turned Into A Chair’ to the stirring ‘The Last Time I Saw The Old Man’, lending it the feeling of a memento mori. Even in love songs like ‘I Want You’, the affection amid the grandiose Scott Walker strings is of a measure of magnitude on the meaning of life scale.
However, while there is a definite weight to the record, Rainy Sunday Afternoon is strong enough to hold it without sinking into truly maudlin depths. There’s always the lilt of a jazz flourish, or else when the despair truly settles in, it makes sure that it’s met with enough meaning to make the album the musical equivalent of a quirky Dostoyevsky novel.
The writing is sublime as the show tunes musing on the mortality of man unspool with a jaunty spirit. Raindrops might keep falling on the head of this heavy record, but there’s more than enough Burt Bacharach charm to ensure Raint Sunday Afternoon dances in the puddles.
Defining Anthem – ‘Achilles’: From its rousing key change to its prancing philosophising, soaring strings, rhythmic chorus, and steady build from sparse parts to orchestral heights, if it’s not the Divine Comedy’s masterpiece, then it runs the others close.
For fans of: Watching the Seventh Seal and then taking the edge off with a bit of Vic & Bob.
A concluding comment from my mother, Karen: “I thought you said that this guy was funny? Saying that, you said the same thing about Randy Newman.”
Release Date: September 19th, 2025 | Producer: Neil Hannon | Label: Divine Comedy Records
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.