Sinner (song)

## Live Performance

**"Sinner"** is the second single by The Last Dinner Party from their debut album, *Prelude To Ecstasy*, released June 30, 2023 through Island Records. It will serve as the eighth track from the album.

## Background

After the success of their debut single Nothing Matters, on June 23, 2023, the band posted to their instagram announcing the release of their second single, 'Sinner'.

The song was written by Lizzie Mayland and tells the story of her relationship with London and moving there from the semi-small minded place where Lizzie grew up and feeling a sense of freedom to become yourself as a person, but then feeling a loss of who she was as a child.

“*The story is about my relationship with London and where I grew up, which is a very, very rural small town. It has prejudices and is a bit small-minded socially. ‘Sinner’ is about converting to a place where you feel freer be yourself and express your sexuality, but also long for that place that you were so at home in. I had a nice childhood and it's something I miss, but those two things don't feel like they can coexist. It’s kind of a made-up story about if I met someone who could represent both those things and like me as an entire person rather than one or the other.*”
―Lizzie Mayland in an interview with The Line of Best Fit.
## Composition

The song started out in September 2022 as "Lizzie.wav" and was born out of a breakbeat drum sample, that has been forming in the bands studio in Greenwich.

“*’Sinner’ is punctuated by ripping guitar lines and harmony-filled vocal breakdowns.*”
―Lizzie Mayland
## Lyrics

* Single Version
* Early Version

I wish i knew you
Back when we were both small
I wish i knew you
But i have gotten too tall
I wish i knew
When touch was innocent
I wish i knew you
Before it felt like a sin

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin

There’s nothing for me
Here where the world is small
But how you touch me
For that I’d leave it all
Back in the city
Cold eyes and lips of dust
So turn and face me
Turn to the alter of lust

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin

Stay through the night
I’d spend the mornings by your side
(Pray for me on your knees)
Time slips away
(Pray for me on your knees)
Before the hillside turns to grey
(Pray for me on your knees)
Breakdown
Pray for me
Kneel with me
Soak in
The crystal stream
Wash the sin from your back
Cleanse my soul
Make me whole
Dance in
the morning glow
Hold me we cant go back
Before it felt like a sin

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin

City light sleeps
She howls the winds of time through her streets
But I know if I go
I’ll be nobody but somebody misplaced
A forgotten face in the clouds that roll over the hill
And there you are
And there you are

I wish i knew you
Back when we were both small
I wish i knew you
But i have gotten too tall
I wish i knew
When touch was innocent
I wish i knew you
Before it felt like a sin

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin

There’s nothing for me
Here where the world is small
But how you touch me
For that I’d leave it all
Back in the city
Cold eyes and lips of dust
So turn and face me
Turn to the alter of lust

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin

Stay through the night
I’d spend the mornings by your side
(Pray for me on your knees)
Time slips away
(Pray for me on your knees)
Before the hillside turns to grey
(Pray for me on your knees)
Breakdown
Pray for me
Kneel with me
Soak in
The crystal stream
Wash the sin from your back
Cleanse my soul
Make me whole
Dance in
the morning glow
Hold me we cant go back
Before it felt like a sin

(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin
(Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees
Pray for me on your knees)
Before it felt like a sin
(Felt like a sin)
Before it felt like a sin

## Video

A live performance video was released the same day as the single. The video was directed by Balan Evans and the band themselves and was shot in one take.

The video sees the band perform the track live in an intimate, dimly lit setting. Abigail Morris dances effortlessly and elegantly around the room, smashing wine glasses as she goes.

## Critical reception

Robin Murray of *CLASH* thought the song felt more biting and urgent than their debut single, Nothing Matters. Nick Reilly of Rolling Stone thought the song sounded like the soundtrack to a bacchanalian orgy in old Soho.

## Videos

The Last Dinner Party - "Sinner" (Recorded Live for World Cafe)The Last Dinner Party — Sinner - StuBru LIVE LIVE
## Credits

### The Last Dinner Party

* Abigail Morris - Vocals
* Georgia Davies - Bass, Additional Vocals
* Emily Roberts - Guitar, Additional Vocals
* Aurora Nishevci - Organ, Synthesizer, Additional Vocals
* Lizzie Mayland - Guitar, Adittional Vocals

### Additional personnel

* Jimmy Robertson - Engineer
* Chris Gehringer - Mastering Engineer
* Alan Moulder - Mixing Engineer
* Alistair Goodwin - Bass Trombone
* Chris Brewster - Trombone
* Robyn Blair - French Horn
* Lucy Humphris - Trumpet
* Bradley Jobes - Trumpet

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/last-dinner-party-on-the-rise
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/qfxpWruSVew?si=gz5Gj0aZzy0yZrwD
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/alt-pop-darlings-the-last-dinner-party-share-their-new-single-sinner/
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuG\_o9FOMlv/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
5. ↑ https://www.clashmusic.com/news/the-last-dinner-party-blossom-with-sinner/
6. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/features/the-last-dinner-party-we-like-to-go-between-the-grotesque-and-the-beautiful-30706/

## Navigation

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

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

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