If there’s one thing about me, I love a good queer music group. Boygenius, The Beaches, and MUNA are a few of my faves.
The Last Dinner Party, an up-and-coming British indie rock band, has social media by the throat with their hit single “Nothing Matters,” and I am obsessed.
They opened for Hozier on the UK/Ireland leg of his tour this past year and have gained a large following of eccentric gays and theys. Lizzie Mayland, Abigail Morris, Georgia Davies, Emily Roberts, and Aurora Nishevci, each with their unique sound and look, make up The Last Dinner Party.
Their most recent project, a masterpiece of an album titled Prelude to Ecstasy, dropped recently on Feb. 2, and it is incredible, so I’m going to put you on to my favourites from the album.
If you’re gay, a bit crazy, and/or love queer artists, this one is for you!
- “nothing matters”
-
This is the first song of theirs that I heard and fell in love with. It’s just a bop.
This song has a bit of female rage included in it (which is always good in my books) and makes me want to put on a Stevie Nicks-inspired skirt and spin in a circle. It’s just that good.
The takeaway from this song is: do whatever the hell you want because, newsflash, nothing matters. This one is on repeat 24/7.
Notable lyric: “I put my heart inside your palms/My home in your arms/Now we know nothing matters.”
- “burn alive”
-
This is the first lyrical song on the album — aside from the first track, “Prelude to Ecstasy,” which is strictly instrumental — and it sets the tone.
This song is all about hurting yourself for the sake of another, hungry just to be noticed by them, desperate to be cared for. There are tons of fire metaphors throughout this track, and it is brilliant. The drums, the heavy guitar, and the haunting chorus-like hums in the foreground of this song are entrancing.
If you’ve ever dealt with unrequited love, you get it.
Notable lyric: “Let me make my grief a commodity,/Do what I can to survive/There is candle wax melting in my veins/So I keep myself standing in your flames.” (This one gives me goosebumps)
- “the feminine urge”
-
This song is all about what it means to be a woman in this forsaken world. This incredible track describes pleasing men, ignoring your own needs, and carrying the same burdens your mother has.
The song reminds me of all the “dating rules” and societal expectations placed on women — don’t come across as too needy, don’t let him know he’s hurt you, your own pleasure doesn’t matter.
It calls out all the bullsh*t that women are forced to deal with when it comes to dating men. It calls out the expectation of women as passive caregivers and men who want a girlfriend just like their mommy.
I’m screaming this one with my friends all the time.
Notable lyric: “Do you feel like a man when I can’t talk back?/Do you want me, or do you want control?”
- “sinner”
-
Okay, this one is haunting if you’re queer and grew up religious. The theme of this song is feeling like your love for someone is a sin and still craving it regardless.
You’re told your love (or sexual orientation, or who you’re attracted to) is wrong, but it feels so right. The religious metaphors throughout this song are absolutely delicious to listen to: “Pray for me on your knees,” “Turn to the altar of lust,” and “Cleanse my soul, make me whole.”
If only I’d had this song at 13 years old when I was told every time I went to church that gay people were going to hell!
Notable lyric: “There’s nothing for me/Here where the world is small/ But how you touch me/ For that I’d leave it all.”
- “mirror”
-
This is another all-too-relatable song about how consuming relationships can be. This is the last track on the album, and boy, does it ever go out with a bang.
This song echoes feelings of not existing without your partner’s approval and gaze. Without those, you feel worthless. The narrator worries that if she were to fade away, would anyone remember her name? Would she only be remembered as an extension of her lover? It’s depressing but incredible, nonetheless!
Notable lyric: “I’m just a mirror, I don’t exist without your gaze.”
For a debut album, I think The Last Dinner Party did a wonderful job. I’ve genuinely been listening to nothing else since this album came out. This hot, new queer group is performing in Toronto on March 30, and I was lucky enough to grab a ticket.
Hopefully, they’ll explode one day, and I can have the chance to be that incredibly annoying person who says, “I saw them before they were really famous!”