The Last Dinner Party is an indie rock band from London, England, United Kingdom consisting of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Aurora Nishevci, bassist Georgia Davies, rhythm guitarist/vocalist L.Mayland, lead guitarist Emily Roberts & frontwoman Abigail Morris. Signing to Island Records a year after their formation, they would make their debut Prelude to Ecstasy at the start of 2024 & are putting out a highly anticipated sophomore effort to further establish themselves in the windmill scene.
“Agnus Dei” begins with Abigail & company showing a bit of a Sir Chloe influence asking if one’s name in lights forever would be better than a wedding ring whereas “Count the Ways” taking inspiration from Arctic Monkeys describes a bitterness growing between 2 people to the point getting payback. The final single “2nd Best”combines indie rock, glam rock & post-punk revival to sing about escaping a relationship where you’ll be betrayed again while the lead single “This is the Killer Speaking” swaps out the post-punk revival elements in favor of pop rock progressive pop & baroque pop for a homage to “Chantilly Lace” by the late Jerry Lee Lewis
Reaching the halfway point of From the Pyre, we have L.Mayland handling the lead vocals on “Rifle” including a crushing bridge performed in French towards the backend of it singing about the ongoing Gaza genocide & the idea of how a mother would feel if her child would go on to become a war criminal leading into the common metaphor of “Woman is a Tree” feeling like it could be included in the upcoming 4th & final season of the Paramount Skydance Corporation owned Showtime thriller drama series Yellowjackets next year.
“I Hold Your Anger” with Aurora Nishevci performing lead vocals & conceptually calling back to “The Feminine Urge” off the band’s debut reminds me of Florence + the Machine, increasing my anticipation for Everybody Scream this Halloween while “Sail Away” serves as a sequel to “On Your Side” referencing the 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン theme song 残酷な天使のテーゼ by 高橋 洋子. The 2nd single “The Scythe” fuses pop rock, indie rock, chamber pop, progressive pop, baroque pop & jangle pop suggesting that death comes for us all no matter what & having no fear of what’s on the other side with an insane guitar solo prior to the outro until the closer “Inferno” reminiscent of MARINA’s classic debut album The Family Jewels sings about where Abigail is personally in this moment.
A bit more character-driven & darker than Prelude to Ecstasy was, The Last Dinner Party still maintains the deeply personal approach to their songwriting that made their introductory full-length so well received throughout From the Pyre quickly establishing themselves as a dominant force in the windmill scene surely continuing to join the ranks of Black Country, New Road & the now disbanded black midi. The pop rock, glam rock, indie rock, baroque pop & progressive pop styles explored 20 months ago are being completely refined with the band being more serious & aware of the state of the world today.
Score: 4/5
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