The Last Dinner Party

Baroque Pop | Indie Rock | Art Rock

86%

 

When ‘Nothing Matters‘ dropped just last year, kickstarting the thrill ride that has been The Last Dinner Party’s rapid ascent to stardom into breakneck speeds, I remarked upon just how stylish their debut single was. Not style over substance, but so stylish that it took on substance. The gothic grandeur, its playful vulgarity, a revelatory moment of revelry. A sound that would turn out to be a perfect echo of their stage theatrics; a Jane Austen afterparty, twirling in ballgowns, stoked up and snarling without ever compromising elegance. An aesthetic so considered and carefully crafted that its execution ends up feeling effortless.

Well familiar now with their style, listening to their hotly anticipated debut album Prelude To Ecstasy I’m instead taken by how much substance lies beneath the glamour. Polished isn’t the right word. In this instance it suggests a thin veneer, the surface shimmer on a gold watch. This record shimmers, make no mistake, but at this point I’m more interested in the precise mechanism that is the timepiece within. A complex array of finely tuned cogs all linking together in perfect harmony. The intricate inner workings translating into graceful fluid motion on the surface. 

The instrumental title track for instance isn’t some throwaway interlude like so many of its ilk. Instead it’s an opulent overture, interpolating themes and motifs from across the record in different movements. Such a grand and engaging way for The Last Dinner Party to set the table for the coming feast. ‘Burn Alive’ flits between slow moody verses and a Kate Bush-esque chorus full of galloping drums and 80s synths. Abigail Morris’ velveteen vocals shine on the dreamy romanticism of ‘On Your Side’, while the Earth-shaking hard rock riffs on ‘My Lady Of Mercy’ hit like a hammer every time they drop. I love the way the witchy Albanian folk interlude ‘Gjuha’ builds anticipation before launching headlong into the piano intro of ‘Sinner‘, although the album’s sequencing isn’t always as on-point as this. My only real qualm with the record is that most of its subdued moments are grouped together at its centre. As a result the middle rather runs out of energy, and I wonder if the album’s pacing would have benefitted from these tracks being more evenly distributed. 

But at its best Prelude sees the band operating like a well oiled machine beneath the decadent art rock exterior. From Georgia Davies’ rich expressive bass tone on ‘Burn Alive’ and ‘Sinner’, to Emily Roberts’ absolutely magnetic, yet all too fleeting solo at the climax of album closer ‘Mirror’, every piece of the puzzle feels finely crafted for a perfect fit. Nowhere is that clearer than in the myriad hairpin turns of ‘Caesar on a TV Screen’. Not only shifting seamlessly between different styles and time signatures with ease, but doing so with all the prog rock bombast and theatricality of early Queen. At times the lavish arrangements are so slick and put together that it feels baffling that this is a band’s debut album.

The world was watching to see how this one would land, and I’m delighted to say that it’s the album we all hoped it would be, delivering on all the promise of that captivating debut single. Moreover it illustrates at every turn just what makes this band so exciting and refreshing. It’s been a long time since I heard a debut so self-assured. The band already have such a clearly defined idea of who they are, what they’re here to do, and their well earned confidence lends their debut the kind of gravitas you’d expect from an act that’s several albums down the line. Grand, refined, charismatic and invigorating, Prelude To Ecstasy sets a high benchmark for the rest of 2024 to follow.