Rainy Sunday Afternoon review/Achilles track deep dive.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon is the 12th studio album from Neil Hannon’s ‘The Divine Comedy’. 

The album spans through many different styles, making you cry and laugh at once. Known for their theatrical sound, this does not disappoint as an album fit to become a music score. With groovy instrumental songs like ‘Rainy Sunday Afternoon’ (the title track) and a heart aching rawness from ‘The Last Time I Saw the Old Man’, the piece still manages to uphold a charming nonchalance.

Falling short in the real ‘hit’ factor many of the band’s work excels in, that doesn’t make the album any less exciting. A couple tracks missed the mark for me, just not hitting with the magical Hannon air that I found in lead single ‘Achilles’, but oh does it make up for it. 

If the single were to be the only thing they ever released, I’d be happy. Achilles is a melancholy song, starting with a dramatic, ring of a bell sounding toll diving straight into the first verse with acoustic guitar. Hannon’s vocals hit harder than before, accompanied by the winding violin notes he sounds better than ever in this track. ‘I saw a man this morning. Standing on a foreign shore. In his eyes tears were falling. As he made ready for war.’ The line ‘I saw a man this morning’ is reused throughout the song, Hannon’s character watches Achilles and seems to be mentoring him. From the first verse, we have a delicious build using violin and acoustic guitar to take this into a powerful and unique chorus. ‘Was it so hard to die, Achilles, so very hard to die?’ Is a phrase repeated in the chorus, where we are joined by tambourine and synths, adding to the classic DC sound this song conveys, but in an entirely fresh and exciting way.

My personal favourite feature of this song is Hannon’s closing monologue, using the same ‘I saw a man this morning’ structure to paint a further picture. He speaks behind a short guitar solo, with a synth ending the track. Not something to ponder on for too long, but he finishes the monologue with ‘One day I will be nothing. Think how funny that will feel. For we, the living. Death is the Achilles heel.’ I particularly enjoy this section because it questions things I think about daily, Hannon perfectly articulating the fear of ending up nothingness at the end of a long life. The track has an underlying sense of sorrowful understanding, our character singing to Achilles and spectating his situation, almost as if he was attempting to guide him. But also, it includes a fight, the fight of Achilles' life, a fight of our character and Achilles in the chorus ‘You breached the walls of Troy, Achilles. Slaughtered a thousand men.’ Behind it is a deep anger that reverberates around the track, bouncing off lyrics and into the stern instrumental.

It paints a beautiful picture of anger and despair, but using the charming comedic sense of Hannon’s songwriting. The origins of the track come from a 1915 poem called ‘Achilles in the Trench’ which starts with ‘I saw a man this morning who did not wish to die.’ 

Overall, the rest of the album is a beautiful little pocket of reality, zooming in on all of the charming parts of life. With the classic whimsicality The Divine Comedy is known for; plus more unseen strength and brilliance, a Rainy Sunday Afternoon is a gorgeous triumph from the band. Very Christmas-y at times. 

Thanks for reading!