Prelude To Ecstasy - The Last Dinner Party
Album Write-Up
You know that feeling when you hear a piece of amazing music for the first time and you get a beautiful knot in the pit of your stomach? The Last Dinner Party’s ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ is that feeling.
The theatrical-rock quintet’s debut album cements the group’s status as the band of the moment; creating a gorgeous landscape of melody and harmony, instrumentation and composition to allow the listener to escape into each song.
The album’s opening track, and namesake, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ establishes the theme of the record for listeners. Entirely orchestral, the track is to the album what an overture is to a musical - creating tension and grandeur through complex arrangement. The title: ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ confirms the listener’s suspicions that they are about to experience something incredible, just as the album’s name suggests the same about the band’s career.
The second track, ‘Burn Alive’, shatters the tension created by the orchestration through the use of a dissonant guitar riff in a minor key. An interesting time signature keeps the audience on edge during verses, before transitioning to a more traditional rhythm during the chorus to settle the listener.
Each song is memorable and moving, poignant in its devotion to femininity. A particular standout is ‘The Feminine Urge’; the line ‘Here comes the feminine urge, I know it so well, to nurture the wounds my mother held’ capturing the essence of the album and band’s mission statement. The melody throughout this song is beautiful, granting the listener shivers on every listen.
The album transitions between songs fluidly and easily, guiding the listener through the record much like a dramatic performance. The theatre of the experience is evident throughout, the opening piano in the track ‘On Your Side’ reminiscent of Les Misérables’ ‘One Day More’.
Throughout, there are sporadic and unexpected changes in melody or pace at every turn. The transition from ‘Gjuha’ to ‘Sinner’ is gorgeous, rewarding the listener for consuming the album in the intended order. ‘Sinner’ is beautifully chaotic, whilst not feeling obnoxious. Tension is created, then perfectly shattered in the crash of a snare.
Throughout the album, every instrument is allowed to shine throughout the relatively complex mix. Drums drive the groove of the songs through intricate high-hat work, whilst guitars are noticeably present but not overdone. The decision to crank up the distortion on the lead guitar under the chorus of ‘Sinner’ is breath-taking, creating an opposing melodic line battling for the limelight.
The closing portion of the album neatly ties up the experience for the listener. The massive ‘Nothing Matters’, the album’s lead single, captures the entire essence of the record in just over three minutes: an unapologetic and glorious devotion to womanhood.
Finally, the album’s closing track, ‘Mirror’, acts as a dramatic reflection of the past eleven tracks, as well as a hint to the future of the band. With MARINA-esque lyric delivery, the track is a perfect close to the album - especially when considering the reintroduction of an entirely orchestral end to the song, creating a cyclical structure to the album.
This is music. New, fresh; something that makes the listener feel something. On each subsequent play of the album another element is uncovered, be it a new melody or drum break, that was not evident before.
It’s hard to believe that ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ is The Last Dinner Party’s debut release, but one thing is for sure: there’s an exciting future ahead for the London quintet.