I first saw the Last Dinner Party at Leeds Festival in 2024, drawn in by their mysterious allure and baroque-and-roll aesthetic. The London-based indie group have been rising stars ever since they began releasing videos of their concerts to sites such as TikTok.

By the time they released their first album, they had already built a loyal following through social media and small-scale gigs in their home of London. This sudden rise to fame led to ‘industry plant’ accusations. These were likely a façade for misogyny towards the genuine success of a female and non-binary centred group. The Internet has thrown this label at other emerging female artists such as Chappell Roan, Wet Leg, and Billie Eilish. Are The Last Dinner Party truly inauthentic or is their fame due to real talent?

The quintet first emerged in 2020 when the founding members Abigail Morris, Georgia Davies, and Lizzie Mayland met at college, quickly becoming friends united by their love of attending gigs together. Soon, they decided to form their own band, later recruiting guitarist Emily Roberts and Aurora Nishevci. Tragically, the formation of The Last Dinner Party, coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic so the group wouldn’t be able to perform live until late 2021. However, it was soon their live performances caught the attention of videographer Lou Smith. Before long they were signing with Island Records and even opened for the Rolling Stones.

With the release of their first album ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ in 2024, The Last Dinner Party’s success bloomed, winning the BRIT Awards’ Rising Star award. This first album was indulgent, opulent, and illustrative, from sexually-liberating anthems like ‘Nothing Matters’ to narrative-heavy mythological retellings like ‘Caesar on a Tv Screen’. The band are unashamedly open about their queerness, as seen in deeply personal tracks like ‘Sinner’ and ‘My Lady of Mercy’ which both explore the struggles of being queer in a heavily religious upbringing.

It would be impossible not to admire The Last Dinner Party for their use of their platform to advocate for human rights. With the “brutality of our current political climate” as described by Davies, music, and all culture for that matter, is surely inherently political. The Last Dinner Party cancelled their performance at Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival after another band had their show cut short for having a Palestine flag on stage. Davies, the band’s bassist, spoke out that the band couldn’t justify “singing Nothing Matters and dancing around in our outfits at a place where a flag is seen as an act of political violence.”

2024’s ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ felt like a disco ball-illuminated bacchanalia, but a year later, ‘From the Pyre’ felt like a solemn after party. It’s full of pensive, meditative tracks on war, death, grief, and loss. In an interview with Dork, the band highlighted that the album’s title represents an “allegorical place” of “violence and destruction but also regeneration, passion, and light”. Motherhood is a theme that continues through the album, with the three-track-run of ‘Rifle’, ‘Woman is a Tree’, and ‘I Hold Your Anger’ taking the listener on a journey from the maternal perspective of a God rebuking humanity to the struggles of being a modern woman. I feel this demonstrates the maturity of their new album, compared with the themes of the joys of youth in ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’. In an interview with DIY Mag, Morris discussed “how you balance children with a career in the music industry as a woman” and Nishevci added her feelings about the “pressure” surrounding the “myth” that you “have to sacrifice everything to be a mother”.

However, The Last Dinner Party haven’t lost their skill for storytelling nor their irresistible fun and danceability. The opening four tracks carry the catchiness of earlier tracks like ‘Nothing Matters’. ‘This is the Killer Speaking’ particularly epitomises the band’s sound, with Western influences, an intriguing plot of revenge, and a killer music video. Their Fanclub, The Last Dinner Partiers on Facebook, drew comparisons to early Queen, with Roberts’ powerful guitar solos emanating Brian May. Some fans also compared the band to ABBA and Kate Bush, and Sarah Cox even joked that their music, with its folk horror and Wicker Man tones, sounds like something you’d “sacrifice virgins to”. Another fan, Gwyn Carwardine, gave me an insight into how they discovered The Last Dinner Party, who “first connected (…) at the How The Light Gets In festival in May 23 (…) I was blown away (by) Caeser on a TV Screen. (…) Abi’s performance (…) was mesmerising. She wasn’t singing, she was living those songs, the emotions were real. I couldn’t believe that I’d just witnessed the birth of an incredible band.” Steven Rice said that “this band has no passengers, every member contributes and the Pyre live gives them all a chance to shine.”

For those who are already fans, they will be playing several concerts next year including the Isle of Wight Festival, TRNSMT Festival, and Latitude Festival. Although there isn’t officially any new music underway, the band are full of surprises. If you aren’t already familiar with them, why should you listen to The Last Dinner Party? If you like the drama of the baroque aesthetic, the darkness of folk mythology, or just a good dance, you might like The Last Dinner Party. Although there isn’t officially any new music underway, the band are full of surprises.