01. Best Friend
02. Me And The Moon
03. Lets Go Surfing
04. Book Of Stories
05. Skippin' Town
06. Forever And Ever Amen
07. Down By The Water
08. It Will All End In Tears
09. We Tried
10. I Need Fun In My Life
11. I'll Never Drop My Sword
12. The Future
“One” is Sky Ferreira’s debut single on Parlophone Records.
The song sounds a bit like if Marina & The Diamonds‘ “I Am Not A Robot” went out for a few drinks with Little Boots‘ “Stuck On Repeat,” except the date took place in an underwater bar and Bloodshy & Avant (the producers of this piece) were busy conducting a small symphony in their scuba gear nearby while Diana Vickers‘ “Once” was busy making sexy eyes at them from the corner of the bar.
Structurally “One” is quite different than your average pop track, complete with plenty of repeat-heavy, dreamy vocals and squeaky disco sounds that neither form entire verses or choruses (though it still vaguely follows the familiar verse-chorus construction). This is a good thing because it keeps pop music interesting and less predictable than usual.
Speaking of good things, I like the fact that Ferreira is kind of like a more mature, more musically interesting response to Ke$ha (even though she’s only seventeen), but without all of the distracting faux-drunk revelry.
1. Down In The Street Below
2. The Complete Banker
3. Neapolitan Girl
4. Bang Goes The Knighthood
5. At The Indie Disco
6. Have You Ever Been In Love
7. Assume the Perpendicular
8. The Lost Art of Conversation
9. Island Life
10. When A Man Cries
11. Can You Stand Upon One Leg
12. I Like
Bonus tracks:
13. Ya Sumeera
14. Beside the Railway Tracks
15. The Circular Firing Squad
16. Napoleon Complex
The Divine Comedy is a baroque pop band now based in Dublin, Ireland, fronted by Neil Hannon.
One of the overarching themes of Bang Goes the Knighthood: namely the private lives of the rich and the powerful, be they celebrities, aristocrats, politicians or financiers. Sometimes, as on the opening "Down in the Street Below", his technique is impressionistic, à la Jimmy Webb. Other times it's straight to the point. He comes on like a latter-day Lehrer on "The Complete Banker", a savage satire of the traders who precipitated the credit crunch.
Such flashes of anger are rare from Hannon, but when they come, they're always thrilling. He occasionally misfires: "Island Life" is a little too reminiscent of Pulp when they started singing about trees and sunrises, and the dated references of "At the Indie Disco" sound like the work of a man who hasn't been inside one for at least a decade.
The oompah-reggae shuffle of the Duckworth Lewis Method project is gone, and Hannon reverts to the lush orchestral pop with which DivCom are most closely associated. Several times, he reminds us that he is a master of genre: "Have You Ever Been in Love" sounds like an instant Tin Pan Alley standard; "When a Man Cries" sounds like an expertly translated Brel (yes, that good) and you can imagine hearing the daft, kiddie-friendly "Can You Stand Up on One Leg" on Ed "Stewpot" Stewart's Junior Choice circa 1975.
Always misfits during their Chris Evans-approved chart heyday, the Divine Comedy are proving that their value has far outlasted that, and their 10th album sees Hannon comfortably embracing his elegant outsiderdom, bow tie, bowler, Labrador and all.
