Prelude To Ecstasy (album)

## Singles

1. "Nothing Matters"
Released April 19, 2023
2. "Sinner"
Released June 30, 2023
3. "My Lady of Mercy
Released October 9, 2023
4. "On Your Side"
Released November 1, 2023
5. "Caesar on a TV Screen"
Released January 4, 2024

***Prelude To Ecstasy*** is the upcoming debut album by The Last Dinner Party, expected to be released February 2, 2024 through Island Records.

“*Ecstasy takes many forms.
It is to lie down in the mouth of a lily.
 It is to wake, pulsing and sweating
Mid night
In need of a pen.
Or figs, wasp-struck
Swollen on the counter.
Wreathed in the arms of sisters it appears,
 Palms raised to clasp at the sky.
 It is the blood throbbing behind your eyes
That keeps you awake.
 That means even when you have everything you could ever want
You keep wanting.
It is the delicious burden
Of knowing what is in your flesh,
 In your marrow.
You hear it faint beneath  the still river of skin
Just loud enough
To make you harrow inside
With a long-tipped spoon
To scoop out the music
Until you are hollow as a bird.
 I’d give my kingdom
 So that you might always know it
 On the cusp of your lips
On your bedside table
Forever in your hands.*”
―The Last Dinner Party in the album announcement

## Background

After persevering through the difficulties of rehearsing together through the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, the band emerged into the live scene as *The Dinner Party* in 2021. Their live performances started attracting buzz as rumors spread about an exciting emerging new band, and after their fourth ever performance was posted to YouTube by Lou Smith, the band quickly captured the attention of industry professionals.

Q Prime’s Tara Richardson had heard about The Last Dinner Party through an audio engineer that worked with the band in the studio and after receiving four “very impressive” demos, she saw the band perform live in early 2022, and almost immediately, she signed the act to the management firm. And by May, the group had scored a record deal with Island Records.

After a long time of having no songs out on streaming services, by the beginning of 2023, with a team in place, they started to prepare to release their first single.

“*We built a reputation around the London live circuit and had a bit of buzz around our first release,” says Davies. “This wasn’t a dress rehearsal.” Adds Morris: “You only get one debut.*”
―Georgia Davies and Abigail Morris in an interview with *Billboard*
Soon after the release of their debut single, many started to ask about their debut album. The band was unsure of how much they could say about it at the time, but they did assure everyone that "It’s coming, you know, it’s alive."

The band had teased the release of their album in interviews, and on October 31, 2023 they teased a "very big and very exciting announcement" to come out along with their fourth single, On Your Side, on November 1, 2023.
The album was officially announced on the bands discord server, with the release date being February 2, 2024.

## Production

The band had been forming the songs of the album for years, playing their songs live they really felt informed the way the album became, and that it wouldn’t be the way it is now if they hadn’t been playing live for so long.
They started out by testing their material in pubs and small venues around London.

“*In the age of TikTok, people thought unless you have a song go viral, there’s no way of generating a following, Ours just felt like a more natural thing. We had much more of a jumping off point from playing shows to seven people who don’t give a f–k to [then] playing much larger shows.*”
―Abigail Morris in an interview with *Billboard*
They described the album as one they wanted to hear as teenagers, with Emily describing it as euphoric, happy and sad at the same time.

The album was recorded in Church Studios in Crouch Hill with producer James Ford, who the band says really understood them in a way that no one else has musically, and was finished the first week of January 2023.

## Description

Describing the album on their online store they say:

“*Prelude to 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 exorcised 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 honour and pride to present this offering to the world, it is everything we are.*”
―Website description
The description of the album when buying the physical formats from somewhere else is:

“*The debut album from The Last Dinner Party. Yes, there are corsets, there is lace and velvet, stockings, suspenders and synchronised clapping, but at the core of this band there are luscious world-building pop songs that sound as big as a universe and encompass the universality of human emotion. Fittingly recorded in a converted church with the help of star producer James Ford in North London, Prelude To Ecstasy is both the closing of an introductory chapter and the opening of the next. The Last Dinner Party? Believe the hype.*”
―Album description

## Promotion

Their song "Nothing Matters" was played for the first time on Radio 6 on July 7, 2023, where they also performed their fourth single "On Your Side".
On September 30, 2023, it was announced that their single "Nothing Matters" would be a part of EA Sports' official FC Soundtrack.

"My Lady of Mercy" was played for the first time on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo on October 9, 2023.
The band made their first TV appearance on *Later… with Jools Holland* on October 22, 2023, where they preformed their debut single "Nothing Matters" and third single "My Lady of Mercy".

The band performed their single "Nothing Matters" at a private show on November 9, 2023 at 93 XRT Radio Station on the Chicago stop of their US Tour. They also performed their singles "Nothing Matters", "My Lady of Mercy" & "On Your Side" as well as "Caesar on a TV Screen" in a Secret Session with FM102/1 in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin at Interstate Music on November 10, 2023, and on the same day their live session performances of their two singles "Nothing Matters" and "My Lady of Mercy" was released as part of VEVOs "DSCVR Artists to Watch '24" campaign.

On November 28, 2023, The Last Dinner Party performed their singles "Nothing Matters", "My Lady of Mercy" and "On Your Side" interpolated with Pixies' "Where Is My Mind" in a live session with BBC Radio 1's Future Artists, and one day after, on the 27th, their Apple Music Session was released, where they performed their two singles "Nothing Matters" and "On Your Side" as well as a cover of Sinéad O’Connor's song "Mandinka".

The day before the release of the album, on February 1, 2024, the band is hosting an intimate variety show at the Roundhouse, which the band hinted may be "historical".

On November 21, 2023, The Last Dinner Party announced that in celebration of their album, from February 2 to February 11 they would be travelling to record stores in the UK where they will sign stuff for fans as well as sing songs in intimate venues.

### Artwork

The Last Dinner Party revealed the cover of their album via all of their socials on November 1, 2023. The cover was shot by Cal McIntyre at The George tavern, the same venue the band played their first show at, and it depicts their maximalism M.O. with everything from flowers to candles, mirrors, small statues and rosaries laying stacked on each other on a fireplace, with a portrait of the band hanging framed above it all on an empty wall.

Standard artwork
### Singles

❦ The band officially announced their debut single "Nothing Matters" to be released on April 19, 2023, with a music video being released the same day. It was received well by critics and fans, and described as "art-rock bombast" by *Rolling Stone UK*.

❦ They released their second single "Sinner" on June 30, 2023, alongside a live performance video directed by Balan Evans and the band themselves. They described "Sinner" as the most similar sonically to "Nothing Matters" on the album.

❦ "My Lady of Mercy" was released October 9, 2023 as their third single, the song came with an accompanying video that was directed by the band alongside Harv Frost and Dora Paphides.

❦ "On Your Side" was released as the fourth single from the album on November 1, 2023, alongside a music video directed by Cal McIntyre.

❦ On January 4, 2024, "Caesar on a TV Screen" was released as the fifth single from the album.

"**Nothing Matters**""**Sinner**""**My Lady of Mercy**""**On Your Side**""**Caesar on a TV Screen**"

## Credits

### The Last Dinner Party

* Abigail Morris - Vocals
* Georgia Davies - Bass, Additional Vocals
* Emily Roberts - Guitarr, Additional Vocals
* Aurora Nishevci - Suynthesizer, String Arranger, Piano, Organ, Additional Vocals
* Lizzie Mayland - Guitar, Additional Vocals

## References

1. ↑ https://readdork.com/features/the-last-dinner-party-hype-cover-april-2023/
2. ↑ https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/the\_last\_dinner\_party\_on\_comparisons\_hype\_debut\_single\_nothing\_matters
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://www.billboard.com/music/features/the-last-dinner-party-nothing-matters-interview-september-2023-chartbreaker-1235415311/amp/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-last-dinner-party-band-debut-single-nothing-matters-interview-radar-3429553
6. ↑ https://mancunion.com/2023/10/09/the-last-dinner-party-its-the-album-we-wanted-to-hear-as-teenagers/
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.silentradio.co.uk/08/02/interview-the-last-dinner-party/?amp%3C/ref%3E
8. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CrLv9zXN4rj/?igshid=YjVjNjZkNmFjNg==
9. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001p2k4
10. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx0fG24t1sq/?igshid=YjVjNjZkNmFjNg==
11. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qzrr
12. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CzeMIioSySo/?igshid=Y2NkYjk0MDhjYg==
13. ↑  https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-last-dinner-party/2023/interstate-music-menomonee-falls-wi-13a1d9e5.html
14. ↑ https://youtu.be/Yr5ART5nyGk?si=fPA8J1HCQQ9r2lvf
15. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CzZJT1kONpq/?igshid=Y2NkYjk0MDhjYg==
16. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001sjmj
17. ↑ https://x.com/lastdinnerparty/status/1729963965222977982?s=46&t=TGML588DkXBbqj7ms0CMpQ
18. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx5BUbeN1OD/?igshid=YjVjNjZkNmFjNg==
19. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz6r\_XstZTn/?igshid=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==
20. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tzHIhNhOG/?igsh=ZXRtcXN6b2s2MTIz
21. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/features/the-last-dinner-party-we-like-to-go-between-the-grotesque-and-the-beautiful-30706/
22. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuG\_o9FOMlv/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

## Navigation

"Burn Alive"
"**Caesar on a TV Screen**"
"The Feminine Urge"

"Beautiful Boy" "Gjuha"
"**Sinner**"

"Portrait of a Dead Girl"
"**Nothing Matters**"
"Mirror"