Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy
by Zena Grieg
published: 8 / 3 / 2024

Label:
Island Records
Format: CD
intro
Fantastical and theatrical debut album from much acclaimed London indie rock quintet The Last Dinner Party
Acclaimed Brit Rising Star Award-winning new UK Indie-Rock quintet The Last Dinner Party have brought out their debut album, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy”. Formed in 2021, when they met as students, the group. lead singer Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland (guitar and vocals), Emily Roberts (lead guitar, mandolin and flute), Georgia Davies (bass) and Aurora Nishevci (keyboard and vocals), are renowned for their distinctive, opulent attire, reminiscent of Renaissance costume dramas and have since set their own fashion trend, sparking Gothic revivals In Islington and Primrose Hill. The record, produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, Jessie Ware, Kylie Minogue), is a diverse, exuberant musical kaleidoscope. Highlights of this twelve-track collection include: the opening instrumental title track with its crashing cymbals and sumptuous, cinematic orchestration; the Joan of Arc inspired, gripping anthem ‘Burn Alive’ with its striking lyrics: “There is candle wax melting in my veins/So I keep myself standing in your flames/…I am at the stake/Petrol my perfume”; ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’ with its hilarious, send up video and harp, strings and timpani accompaniment; the drumbeat-propelled, baroque ballad ‘Feminine Urge’; enigmatic, flute-led ‘Beautiful Boy’ on the snares of gender stereotyping; folk track ‘Gjuha’, performed in Albanian by keyboardist Aurora Nishevci, exploring the theme of language and disconnection; catchy glam rock/ post-punk ‘Sinner’ with its scathing tirade against homophobic small-mindedness: “There’s nothing for me/Here, where the world is small”; ‘My Lady Of Mercy’ with its sensuous gothic iconography and provocative religious imagery: “Picture me in bed/Under your crucifix/…My lady of mercy/Strike me, pierce me straight through the heart”; passionate love song, their first single ‘Nothing Matters’, with its striking guitar solo by Emily Roberts; and the closer, ‘Mirror’ with its hypnotic bass, stark lines – “I’m just a mirror/I don’t exist without your gaze/I fade away, I fade away” – and cathartic instrumental outro. Fantastical, theatrical, reverberating with raw, operatic vocals and abounding with cinematic and literary allusions, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ strikes a pose with aplomb.
Track Listing:-
1 Prelude To Ecstasy2 Burn Alive
3 Caesar on a TV Screen
4 The Feminine Urge
5 On Your Side
6 Beautiful Boy
7 Gjuha
8 Sinner
9 My Lady of Mercy
10 Portrait of a Dead Girl
11 Nothing Matters
12 Mirror
Band Links:-
https://www.thelastdinnerparty.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/TheLastDinnerParty/
https://twitter.com/lastdinnerparty
Label Links:-
http://www.islandrecords.co.uk/https://twitter.com/islandrecordsuk/
https://www.youtube.com/user/islandrecords/
https://www.facebook.com/IslandRecordsUK/
https://instagram.com/islandrecordsuk/
Play in YouTube:-
Have a Listen:-
photography |
Photoscapes 1 (2024) |
![]() |
Andrew Twambley photographs alt. rock group The Last Dinner Party at the first of two shows at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester. |
Photoscapes 2 (2024) |
bandcamp
soundcloud
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Yardbirds - Interview with Jim McCarty
Johnny Cash - Video Vault
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
John Philip Shenale - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Man From Delmonte - Interview
Loft - Interview
Vapors - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett - Loose TalkIvor Game - When Will You Fall Into My Loving Arms?
Gabriel Moreno - Nights in the Belly of Bohemia
Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham - Big Blue Sky
Brooke Combe - Dancing at the Edge of the World
Shaw's Trailer Park - I Thought I Saw You
Bryan Adams - Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2024
Ringo Starr - Look Up
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Leon Bridges - Leon
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart