THE Divine Comedy return with the June 7 album Office Politics, to be followed by an 11-date autumn tour.

Neil Hannon's follow-up to 2016's Foreverland is a 16-track "tour de force full of inventive, timeless music peopled with a typically irreverent cast of characters".

"It has synthesisers...and songs about synthesisers, but don't panic," says the 48-year-old Northern Irishman. "It also has guitars, orchestras, accordions, and songs about love and greed."

The central characters on Office Politics, however, are the machines, or "Infernal Machines" as one Hannon track rages. "I do try to make normal records," he says with a smile. "But it always seems to wander off into odd territories."

The album was written, produced and arranged by Hannon and recorded in Ireland and London. The full track listing will be Queuejumper; Office Politics; Norman And Norma; Absolutely Obsolete; Infernal Machines; You'll Never Work In This Town Again; Psychological Evaluation; The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale; The Life And Soul Of The Party; A Feather In Your Cap; I'm A Stranger Here; Dark Days Are Here Again; Philip And Steve's Furniture Removal Company; Opportunity Knox; After The Lord Mayor's Show and When The Working Day Is Done.

A limited-edition deluxe CD has a second disc, Swallows And Amazons –The Original Piano Demos: Hannon's original demos for the stage musical, released for the first time.

The Divine Comedy will play Leeds Beckett University on October 15. Tickets go on sale from 9am on April 12 via thedivinecomedy.com.