Album review: The Last Dinner Party serve up a treat with Prelude to Ecstasy
The Last Dinner Party release Prelude to Ecstasy. Picture: Ian West
- The Last Dinner Party
- Prelude to Ecstasy
- ★★★★☆
The much-talked and tweeted-about London band The Last Dinner Party were first introduced to Irish audiences last June when they opened for Florence and the Machine at Musgrave Park in Cork.
The group later named that show one of their gigs of the year – which is saying a lot considering they also supported the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park.
A wide-open field in Cork City on a balmy summer evening was the perfect setting in which to become acquainted with the Last Dinner Party’s big-sky pop. Their songs were huge and cathartic – and even if unfamiliar with much of the material, the crowd couldn’t help but be swept along.
A similar spell is cast by a charming and wonderfully brooding debut album that feels equal-part inspired by Kate Bush, Midsommar and an Adam Ant video featuring tricorn hats and bodices.
It’s clever and stuffed with references - but above all, Prelude to Ecstasy is great fun.
“We imagined the kind of joyful, exciting act we’d want to see when we go out,” singer Abigail Morris told the NME last year, “and created our own ‘dream band’ from that.”
Dreamy is the exactly word: the single 'Sinner' is an infectious blend of religious references and costume drama larks, while Nothing Matters combines Cure-esque melodrama with a chorus that feels especially designed ringing out in crammed festival tents.
That energetic highlight is followed by a wistful closer in power ballad 'Mirror', which suggests a sort of grimdark T’Pau.
It’s only February but we can already clear the tables: The Last Dinner Party are the year’s most exciting new-comers and their debut album is a feast for the senses.
