Steeped in humour, romance and an unwavering love of 1960s pop, Neil Hannon's
crooning, jaunty tales caught the mood of Brit-pop and charmed their way to a
cult following and occasional hits. The son of a bishop, Hannon's first
incarnation of The Divine Comedy drew on the jangling indie of R.E.M. to release
debut album Fanfare For The Comic Muse (1990) and the Edwyn Collins-produced EP
Europop. But after little success the original line-up split. Back in
Londonderry on his own, Hannon used a number of literary references on the
critically acclaimed Liberation (1993) and Promenade...