Neil Hannon was the only member of the Divine Comedy by this point, as the band had split up shortly after the release of 2001's Regeneration.

Hannon had decided to continue using the Divine Comedy name for this album and was aided by long-time collaborator Joby Talbot, who arranged and conducted the orchestra.

Reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Joe Tangari said: Even if you're resistant to Hannon's grandiosity, it's hard to deny the lush sweep of the album's opening title track, a song that confirms his place as the closest thing to an inheritor of Scott Walker's mantle as we're likely to get.

The orchestration is expert and economical, and Nigel Godrich, bumped from the producer's chair to the mixing board this time around, perfectly stacks the song's elements to make them sound absolutely huge.

Hannon's tenor is commanding, and he spins an incredible melody as he runs through a series of tributes to 20th century icons whose lives ended prematurely, from French actress Jean Seberg to Laika, the first dog in space.