The Divine Comedy – Foreverland (Deluxe) (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

The Divine Comedy are an orchestral pop band from Northern Ireland formed in 1989 and fronted by Neil Hannon. Neil Hannon has time and again proved to be one of the UK’s best and most original songwriters. “Foreverland” (11th studio album) exemplifies this, with references to everything from Catherine The Great to the French Foreign Legion. A two-disc deluxe edition comes with a bonus CD featuring a studio recording of In May, Neil Hannon and Frank Alva Buecheler’s acclaimed chamber opera, which explores the relationship between a dying son and his absent father through a series of letters. This is sung by Neil Hannon, with string quintet and piano.

The follow-up to 2010’s fun but frivolous Bang Goes the Knighthood, Foreverland continues to follow Neil Hannon’s descent into happiness, offering up an amiable 12-track set that manages to locate the semi-sweet spot between treacly and savory. Hannon wastes little time in doling out the confectionaries, lampooning his fame and stature on the winking “Napoleon Complex,” a jocular bit of chamber pop fluff that provides a nice litmus test for what’s to come. Hannon’s pure pop acumen has always helped to temper some of his flightier tendencies, and that knack for taming preciousness with melodic might lends a nice charge to Foreverland’s first single, “Catherine the Great.” A thinly veiled love letter to his significant other, Irish singer/songwriter Cathy Davey, it’s a classic Hannon production, delivering whimsy and wit via a three-minute, self-described “silly love song” that’s presented in the guise of a droll Russian history lecture – the charming Davey herself appears on the Gershwin-esque duet “Funny Peculiar.” Hannon, ever the self-deprecating gadfly, does his best to try and inject some conflict into his current state of bliss on the propulsive, manchild eviscerating – and occasionally cringe-inducing – “How Can You Leave Me Here on My Own,” but the warmth that radiates from fearlessly tender gems like “My Happy Place” and “The One That Loves You” suggests otherwise. There’s no mistaking Foreverland for anything other than the work of an artist who has chosen to give up his fight with the not-so-cruel-after-all mistress that is contentment.

Tracklist:
1-01. The Divine Comedy – Napoleon Complex (04:45)
1-02. The Divine Comedy – Foreverland (04:01)
1-03. The Divine Comedy – Catherine the Great (03:03)
1-04. The Divine Comedy – Funny Peculiar (02:44)
1-05. The Divine Comedy – The Pact (02:55)
1-06. The Divine Comedy – To the Rescue (05:16)
1-07. The Divine Comedy – How Can You Leave Me On My Own (03:31)
1-08. The Divine Comedy – I Joined The Foreign Legion (To Forget) (03:41)
1-09. The Divine Comedy – My Happy Place (04:10)
1-10. The Divine Comedy – A Desperate Man (02:42)
1-11. The Divine Comedy – Other People (01:35)
1-12. The Divine Comedy – The One Who Loves You (03:20)
2-01. The Divine Comedy – 6th Of December (03:54)
2-02. The Divine Comedy – 11th Of December (04:18)
2-03. The Divine Comedy – 13th Of December (02:39)
2-04. The Divine Comedy – 23rd Of December (03:01)
2-05. The Divine Comedy – 3rd Of January (04:13)
2-06. The Divine Comedy – 13th Of January (01:43)
2-07. The Divine Comedy – 15th Of January (02:00)
2-08. The Divine Comedy – 30th Of January (03:35)
2-09. The Divine Comedy – 7th Of February (02:15)
2-10. The Divine Comedy – 22nd Of February (03:51)
2-11. The Divine Comedy – 8th Of March (03:11)
2-12. The Divine Comedy – 27th Of March (01:09)
2-13. The Divine Comedy – 4th Of April (03:35)
2-14. The Divine Comedy – 4th Of April (Midnight) (02:36)
2-15. The Divine Comedy – 3rd Of May (04:18)
2-16. The Divine Comedy – 10th Of May (02:19)
2-17. The Divine Comedy – 21st Of May (03:14)
2-18. The Divine Comedy – 28th Of May (01:09)
2-19. The Divine Comedy – 31st Of May (03:22)