Divine Comedy songs have a tendency to fall into two camps: the first is indie guitar rock with shades of a shoegazing record collection, the second pitches Neil Hannon as a Scott Walker for the modern generation. It is to Hannon's eternal credit that he is equally at home with both sides of his persona. After the more rock-oriented approach of 'Regeneration', Hannon reverts back to Walker mode on his first album without his usual backing group. Regular Walker composer Wally Stott would have been extremely proud of the lavishly orchestrated 'Sticks & Stones', the haunting 'The Wreck Of The Beautiful', the epic 'Our Mutual Friend' and even the lovely instrumental 'Laika's Theme', all of them exquisitely arranged. In fact almost every track is a winner; single 'Come Home Billy Bird' and 'My Imaginary Friend' are redolent of the wry yet tuneful character studies which characterised his first albums. Refreshingly free of the camp moments which undermined some of his late 90's material, Neil Hannon has grown up gracefully indeed.