You thought they'd split up? It's just that Neil Hannon lost his whole band and kept the name on... which is not that different to the Divine Comedy of a few years ago. Not that it really affects anything. Hannon still has the knack of creating these orchestral masterpieces with memorable melodies.
This ability is particularly obvious on this album. The tones of the album changes track by track, the careful use of brass, strings and other instruments at places just when you want to hear them, and nowhere else. This also makes the songs not feel out of place from a musical. You can quite easily imagine these tracks fitting into something like West Side Story. Then the vocals kick in, and you're reminded why these songs are just on a CD. These songs feel natural, and not glossed up, as they would if some trained singer was let loose on them.
With most albums there are tracks that can feel disjointed, as if they really shouldn't be here. But Absent Friends, even with its frequent changes in tone, feels like a complete work. It marks the return of Neil Hannon as the talented songwriter we know he is. While Regenerateion struggles a bit for the acceptance of this new mature, and more serious, Divine Comedy, Absent Friends continues this journey, and does it far, far better.