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Nov 01, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Cal McIntyre

Buzzed about new British five-piece The Last Dinner Party have announced their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, and shared a new song from it, “On Your Side,” via a music video. Prelude to Ecstasy is due out February 2, 2024 via Island and features all of the band’s previous three singles. Cal Mcintyre directed the “On Your Side” video. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates.

The Last Dinner Party are Abigail Morris (vocals), Georgia Davies (bass), Lizzie Mayland (guitar), Aurora Nishevci (keys), and Emily Roberts (lead guitar). James Ford produced Prelude to Ecstasy, as he did all the band’s previous singles. Not only is he a member of Simian Mobile Disco and The Last Shadow Puppets, but as a producer he has worked with an impressive array of artists, including Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys, Jessie Ware, Everything Everything, Gorillaz, HAIM, Florence + The Machine, Foals, and Pet Shop Boys.

The Last Dinner Party collectively had this to say about their debut album in a press release: “Ecstasy is a pendulum which swings between the extremes of human emotion, from the ecstasy of passion to the sublimity of pain, and it is this concept which binds our album together. This is an archeology of ourselves; you can exhume our collective and individual experiences and influences from within its fabric. We exorcized guitars for their solos, laid bare confessions directly from diary pages, and summoned an orchestra to bring our vision to life. It is our greatest honor and pride to present this offering to the world, it is everything we are.”

Of the new single, the band say: “‘On Your Side’ is a love song with its hands tied. It’s about being so devoted to someone that no matter what they do, no matter how much it hurts, how much you know you should leave, you can’t escape. The outro came from a wonderful improvised moment in the studio; James Ford had this synthesizer that warped and delayed and played with the fabric of whatever you put into it. So Aurora and Abigail sat in the studio after lunch and improvised some piano and vocal lines, letting the sounds build on top of each other until that final gasp. It turned into this wrenching shimmering section that sounds like the end of a poisonous relationship; dissolving, fragmenting, painful but also ultimately freeing.”

The Last Dinner Party were getting a considerable amount of buzz in their home country based mainly on their live performances, but in April they released their debut single, “Nothing Matters,” via a music video. “Nothing Matters” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then in June they shared their second single, “Sinner,” as well as a video of them performing the song live. “Sinner” again made our Songs of the Week list. “My Lady of Mercy” was the band’s third single, again shared via a music video and again one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our May interview with The Last Dinner Party, which is likely the band’s first ever interview with an American publication.

The Last Dinner Party had already performed sets ahead of Nick Cave and The Rolling Stones before even releasing a debut single.

Prelude to Ecstasy Tracklist:

1. Prelude to Ecstasy
2. 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

The Last Dinner Party Tour Dates: 2023:

2nd November – Bowery Ballroom, New York SOLD OUT
4th November – Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia SOLD OUT
6th November – El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles
9th November – Bottom Lounge, Chicago
26th November – Avicii Arena, Stockholm (w/ Hozier)
28th November – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam (w/ Hozier)
29th November – Zenith, Paris (w/ Hozier)
2nd December – Velodrome, Berlin (w/ Hozier)
3rd December – Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna (w/ Hozier)
5th December – Sporthall, Hamburg (w/ Hozier)
6th December – Sportovni Hala Fortuna, Prague (w/ Hozier)
8th December – Forest National, Brussels (w/ Hozier)
10th December – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool (w/ Hozier)
11th December – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (w/ Hozier)
13th December – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham (w/ Hozier)
15th December – OVO Wembley Arena, London (w/ Hozier)
17th December – SSE Arena, Belfast (w/ Hozier)
9th December – 3Arena, Dublin (w/ Hozier)
19th December – The Workman’s Club, Dublin SOLD OUT
20th December - 3Arena, Dublin (w/ Hozier)

2024:

30th January – The Fleece, Bristol *re-arranged date* SOLD OUT
1st February – The Roundhouse, London

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