ErasmusHobart.com

On a note related only homonymically (if that is a word) today I received my copy of The Duckworth-Lewis Method’s eponymous CD.

The last few years have been something of an Irish music odyssey for me: I’ve been intending to listen to something by The Divine Comedy for several years (it occurs to me every time I watch Father Ted or The IT Crowd) and then, after stumbling on another Irishman – Duke Special – playing support for Crowded House at the end of 2007, I finally got round to picking up the greatest hits. At the same time, I was looking around for information about the rumoured Idle Race box set and this serendipitously led me to the website of another Irish band by the name of Pugwash. The three acts are very different from each other: the Divine Comedy is an eclectic mix of comic and poignant songs about the modern world, Duke Special is somewhat vaudevillian (again, is that a word?) and Pugwash very much in the classic Beatles-Byrds-Beach Boys vein. All three are, however, brilliantly talented and, intriguingly, seem to be interrelated. Neil Hannon, the singer-writer-lead musician of Divine Comedy, has appeared on both Duke Special’s debut album, Songs From the Deep Forest and on Pugwash’s latest masterpiece Eleven Modern Antiquities, perhaps demonstrating that the Irish music scene is less driven by ego and commercial considerations than its English counterpart.

It should, therefore, have come as no surprise to find that Thomas Walsh of Pugwash was collaborating with Neil Hannon on an entirely different musical project. Released to coincide with The Ashes, The Duckworth-Lewis Method is an album of cricket-inspired songs, poignant, mostly comic and with stylistic shades of both Pugwash and The Divine Comedy mixed with a touch of Flanders and Swann it’s an album far-removed from the indentikit bands that plague our charts at the moment. It’s hard to pick a particular standout moment – diversity always makes choice difficult – but Meeting Mr Miandi seems to be the one that’s got stuck in my brain at the moment.

Allegedly, there is supposed to be a new Divine Comedy album coming later this year, despite Mr Hannon’s best attempts to avoid it, and with rumours that Pugwash will be embarking on their first UK tour to promote their best of album Giddy I’m hoping this means the two acts will be playing on the same ticket. It would certainly make for a good night out.

Links:
Pugwash
The Duckworth-Lewis Method
The Divine Comedy
Duke Special