The Last Dinner Party is a band that have quickly risen in stature, building up a huge army of fans during their short time together. Since we fatefully caught their set at Y Not Festival last year, we’ve been waiting with baited breath for their debut album, and now it’s finally here. A lot of the tracks on Prelude to Ecstasy have already been released as singles, but fans will be happy to know that there’s still a lot of tracks that haven’t previously been released, making the record well worth a buy.
By Jane Howkins
Starting out in flamboyant fashion, the record opens with the title track, Prelude to Ecstasy. It’s a piece of classical music – whilst it won’t be for everyone, it truly shows off the pure imagination The Last Dinner Party have, setting them far apart from their peers. The first song proper is also a newbie, titled Burn Alive. It has everything this band have become known for and more – catchy choruses, a powerful set of vocals and a fresh new indie-pop sound, starting things off in lovely style.
The Florence & the Machine and Kate Bush influences may seem fairly obvious to current fans of those artists, but The Last Dinner Party manage to make their music their own, adding a unique flavour into the mix. Take Caesar on a TV Screen, for example. It’s a track that constantly keeps you guessing, changing rapidly and going through several different movements as the song progresses.
Gjuha sees the band leaning into their more experimental sound. We were lucky enough to hear the track when we saw the band play last year, and it was truly magical. It sounds even better on the record, seeing The Last Dinner Party use a range of vocal harmonies to make something utterly beautiful at times. Mirror is another belter of a track that’s well worth checking out. It’s fairly stripped-down, displaying a more soulful side to the band’s music.
However, songs like Sinner and Nothing Matters show a different side to The Last Dinner Party, displaying them at their most alt-pop. You’ve probably heard both tracks during the run up to the record release – I’ve had them on repeat for the last few months and I’m still not bored of them!
All in all, Prelude to Ecstasy is a fantastic first release for The Last Dinner Party, showing that the hype really was worth it! We hope to see some of you at the Brudenell Social Club gig on Sunday!