"Portrait of a Dead Girl" Released: 11 October 2024
Prelude to Ecstasy is the debut studio album by the British indie rock band the Last Dinner Party, released on 2 February 2024 by Island Records.[5] It was produced by James Ford, and includes the singles "Nothing Matters", "Sinner", "My Lady of Mercy", "On Your Side", "Caesar on a TV Screen" and "The Feminine Urge".[6] The band toured the UK and Europe from January to July 2024 in support of the album.[6]
The album received acclaim from critics and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was the UK's biggest first week-selling debut album in nine years, since Communion by Years & Years.[7] It received a nomination for the 2024 Mercury Prize.[8]
Background
A press release called the concept of ecstasy a "pendulum which swings between the extremes of human emotion, from the ecstasy of passion to the sublimity of pain" and one that "binds [the] album together". The band also stated that they "laid bare confessions directly from diary pages, and summoned an orchestra to bring our vision to life", calling it their "greatest honour and pride to present this offering to the world, it is everything we are".[9]
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Prelude to Ecstasy received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 from twenty-one critic scores.[13]Uncut described it as "a rich saturnine, baroque-pop set full of romantic drama. Strings, piano and keyboard combine with multi-textured guitar in songs that, though engaging, tend toward the florid".[1] John Earls of Record Collector wrote that "Prelude to Ecstasy inhabits its own world as magnificently as The Lexicon of Love or Dog Man Star in marrying its grandiose aims with massive tunes. ... There's not a weak moment in these 11 songs."[18]
Sophie Williams of NME found the album to have "a melodic confidence throughout that's a rare find in a debut. The Last Dinner Party may have some reverence for their art-rock forebears (think: early Julia Holter or St Vincent), but also enough self-belief and magnetism to set them apart from what's come before", summarising it as "fantastic songs that are easy to embrace and return to".[17] Reviewing the album for MusicOMH, David Murphy stated that the sound is "varied but invariably bold, gesturing camply towards a raft of classic pop styles" and that "the band always sound cohesive, not just a list of educated nods, the music impeccably arranged and with true depth to the writing".[16]
DIY's Lisa Wright stated that Prelude to Ecstasy is "proof in an age of algorithms that a completely singular band can beat them all and come out on top without diminishing a shred of their vision".[15] Ellie Robertson of The Skinny concluded that, "Whether you call it glam, goth, or grotesque, these writers are resurrecting a long lost art in popular music – using big sounds, with indulgent lyrics, crafting a listening experience so rich it borders on hedonism."[19]Rolling Stone's David Browne opined that "there's no denying the way their blowsy, unrestrained songs knock you upside and down and leave you with a dizzying high", calling the "combined mood ... very post-lockdown".[20]
Concluding his review for AllMusic, James Christopher Monger called the album "a remarkably assured set of bold-faced indie rock and maximalist goth pop teaming with earworm melodies, intelligent, darkly romantic lyrics, and thespian bluster".[14] Sophia McDonald of The Line of Best Fit felt that "with classical references and themes of lust, revenge, and sorrow, this debut could be the soundtrack to a modern Shakespeare tragedy".[3] Laura Snapes of Pitchfork wrote that it "channels baroque pop and prog of yore, yet for all its high drama, the results sometimes sound too carefully plotted and curiously professional", as "for songs that deal with the emotional violence meted out to women and queer people, there's not much mess in TLDP's proggy proficiency, the kind that glam originally stubbed its cigs out on".[2]
On 28 August 2024, the group released a cover of the Sparks song "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", the lead single to Prelude to Ecstasy: Acoustics and Covers. The release contained the entire Prelude to Ecstasy album along with nine bonus tracks. These included live and acoustic versions of songs from the album along with live cover songs and "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", recorded in studio. The album was released on limited edition amber colored vinyl through the band's website, CD, on streaming services and for digital download.[24]
Prelude to Ecstasy – A Short Film by the Last Dinner Party
In August 2024, the group announced the release of Prelude to Ecstasy – A Short Film by the Last Dinner Party, which was released on 12 September 2024. Fans could register for tickets to the premiere and could watch the film along with the band in Soho, London. The film was also released to YouTube the same day.[25]
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