Release Date: 2 February 2024
Song Count: 12
Rating: 7.2/10
Description:
To the one friend who recommended me this album around a month back: first of all, hello, and welcome back to my blogsite where I ramble about music and pretend to sound intelligent while doing so. Second, I apologise for it taking me so long to review this one - I hope I can do what appears to be one of your favourite albums some justice in rating it fairly and eloquently to make up for it.
Prelude to Ecstacy is the debut album of the recently emerged British indie rock band The Last Dinner Party, an act consisting of five young members (and two drummers in rotation) who have garnered a sizeable audience throughout their still young yet already success-filled time in the limelight. The band seems to have discovered and seized a musical niche for themselves; combining elements of pop and rock with orchestral instruments and signature pieces from classical music that complete their self-forged metaphorical puzzle like no other artist or band out there in the industry - and their debut album plants the seeds of this firmly set identity.
The components used to create these tracks include the standard set of rock instruments - guitars, bass and drums - alongside keys, traditional instruments like the piano, strings, brass instruments, harps and more, and other unlikely combinations thrown into the mix, such as the flute (in "Beautiful Boy") and the mandolin (in "Gjuha"). This wide range of sounds and instruments at the band's disposal sets the stage for a very artsy and encompassing set of tracks that can generate different moods and genre-based leanings within each and every one, and the band uses this arsenal to its advantage at many points throughout the album, giving it the "baroque pop" or "orchestral rock" sound that gets pioneered as a results of the efforts of not only those in the band, but many other musicians and artists contributing as well.
What results from this is a dozen of songs all deviating from the last with their narratives, tempos and sounds, yet retaining a general structural commonality through The Last Dinner Party's unmistakeable style. The quality of the songs remains consistent at a level where, though not third-eye-opening, they nevertheless lead to a listen where one can't help but respect the artistry, whimsy and unabashed courage to stand tall as a daring piece of art and a means of self-expression. Theatrics, joy, tragedy and sincerity radiate through the music as different kinds of stories are told and themes explored within the webs of poetically drafted lyrics, performed by a talented set of vocals and backing singing.
Notable highlights out of the tracks include the thematically complex and melodically innovating "The Feminine Urge" about romanticised femininity and gender-based stereotypes, the structurally unique "Beautiful Boy" with its woodwind tunes of the flute, slow tempo and triste energy, and the brilliantly executed transition between "Gjuha" straight into the more rock-like leans of "Sinner" with its captivating instrumental, set of guitar solos and backing vocals sung in a satisfying rhythm.
While not usually the type of genre I gravitate towards on my regular listens, the effort and creativity put into Prelude to Ecstaty is simply undeniable - a roaring success for the flourishment of a one-of-a-kind music style that combines several genres together in a melting pot to put together an accessible and well-crafted yet simultaneously rich and inspired sound, compacted into one 41-minute album.
Thanks for the recommendation! (And if you have any more, feel free to send them my way!....oh, wait, I shouldn't be saying this in the review itself, right? My bad... Point still stands.)