The Last Dinner Party - "Prelude to Ecstasy" (2024)

This year's indie up and comers chosen to be championed by the UK press are The Last Dinner Party, an all female and one non-binary band from London that had been building hype during 2023 following the release of their debut single, Nothing Matters. The track melded catchy, singalong indie pop with theatrical baroque pop and dramatic glam rock - showing the band had a clear identity and sound from the off (and the gorgeous production courtesy of James Ford further sweetened the deal). I caught onto the hype at the very tail end of the year after the group had released a few more singles leading up to the release of the album, all of which were really great and had me very excited to hear the full thing. 

Prelude to Ecstasy really follows in the footsteps of Nothing Matters, being an extravagant fusion of modern indie and pop rock with 70s glam and baroque pop throwbacks that's exquisitely produced. The sound of the record is what really jumps out first listen, as the opening title track operates as a grandiose orchestral intro to the album like the opening to a stage play before leading into the first proper cut, the bombastic Burn Alive. The thundering drums and meaty synths alongside vocalist Abigail Morris' commanding vocals have such a powerful aura about them, demanding that you stop and pay attention to them. The following track Caesar on a TV Screen alternates between fairly stripped back verses and a melodramatic, theatrical chorus that borders on being something out of a stage play. Both songs lyrically play in ideas of femininity, sacrificing yourself an unworthy partner and the fantasies of power and escaping the unlevel playing field many women face trapped in relationships with thoughtless, self-aggrandising men.

These are the running themes across the album, and are at their most blunt on the following track, The Feminine Urge. The track is an expertly crafted throwback to 60's and 70's female singer / songwriter tunes, with an effortlessly catchy yet lyrically dense hook. "Do you feel like a man when I can't talk back? / Do you want me or do you want control?" Morris belts out at the back end of the chorus. It perfectly encapsulates the clever writing present on the entire record. It's not your average 'girl power / you don't need no man' angle to female empowerment that typically occurs on a record like this, its taking a deeper look at why so many men fall short. It's not that they intrinsically misogynist, but more an outward projection of the lack of control over their own lives. Midpoint track, Beautiful Boy, similarly covers the complex power dynamic between the sexes, tackling the power that women can have through their sexuality and desirability but ultimately concluding in the face of male violence that power means nothing. "What use are red lips when you're faced with something sharp?" The opening line of the song doubles down on this, claiming "The best a boy can be is pretty", clearly stating that while women only have the power of  desirability, men can have both. They can be violent and dominating, and also be attractive and charming. The song took a little while to grow on me, due to how stark the instrumentation is compared to how lush the rest of the album is, but the power of the lyrism on show here really pulls it through.

Sat in between these two is On Your Side, a lush, slowburning ballad. The track beautifully envelops you with layers of sound. Its one of the less outwardly theatrical songs, but its ability to just absorb you is equally as strong. Gjuha is a short vocal interlude that seamlessly transitions perhaps the best song on the record, Sinner. The track has drawn comparisons with with Sparks over its breathy staccato verses and explosive chorus. The track is pop-rock perfection, with its catchy singalong chorus, fuzzed out lead guitars and bouncy bassline. Again, the lyrics of the song focus on a really unique and interesting idea, the concept of wishing you knew someone while you were young and 'untainted', before the cynicism and mistrust had time to grow, before you have been hurt and let down.

The album goes on an absolute run from Sinner all the way through to its finish, rolling out banger after banger. My Lady of Mercy is definitely the heaviest the record gets, being indebted to the more swaggering side of glam rock. The meaty guitar riff stomps around as Morris evokes religious imagery to convey the obsessive idolship that many women end up placing on other women they look up to. Portrait of a Dead Girl reprises the themes of sacrificing yourself for a toxic relationship from earlier on in the record, but spins it into the perspective of someone managing to escape from that cycle. Similarly to the Feminine Urge, the chorus is dense and wordy, but still catchy and melodic. There are some great one-liners in it, with my personal favourite being "The time I wasted in your mouth", its just so scathing and petty.

Nothing Matters follows this as the penultimate track, before the album is closed out by the slower and more theatrical Mirror. The song refers back to the themes of Burn Alive and the idea of suffering for someone else for a sense of purpose. The concept focuses on Morris 'just being a mirror' for whoever she's talking to - the audience, a partner, whoever, and how she 'doesn't exist without their gaze'. The track slowly builds into a grand climax with swooning strings, over the top glam rock guitars and choir backing vocals, before the album closes with a short orchestral outro. It gives the album a very cyclic and 'real' feel to it, as the issues detailed in the lyrics wont just disappear because a band made an album about it. It gives it a sense of weight and drama that a happy ending could not.

Prelude to Ecstasy is an incredibly well written and tightly crafted debut from a band that I can see being one of the biggest names in indie rock in a few years. It's my favourite record I've heard so far this year and well worth your time. Every Track is great and can stand on its own.

Top Tracks: Burn Alive, Caeser on a TV Screen, On Your Side, Beautiful Boy, Sinner, My Lady Of Mercy, Portrait of a Dead Girl, Nothing Matters, Mirror

8/10

Little Simz - "Drop 7" (2024)

 

Little Simz is back with another EP in her Drop series, which sporadically intersperse her main LPs and are generally used as a place for her to experiment a little without the perfectionism and burden of expectation that is a common theme within her music. This one comprises of 7 tracks that incorporate techno, trap and grime with a bit of Latin and afrobeat rhythms - a stark contrast to the soul and funk instrumentals of her past few main albums. 

These tracks are all pretty short, with much less attention to detail than the lush instrumentals of SIMBI and NO THANK YOU. They're repetitive and somewhat hypnotic, and Simz' vocals and lyrics feel much more off the cuff and frankly background-y than the commanding presence she usually has. It's all a bit vibey and unfinished. I've had the pleasure of seeing Simz live a couple of times now, and I just can't see any of these tracks penetrating her live set the same way a couple of the tracks off Drop 6 did.

The opener, Mood Swings is definitely the most complete song on the EP, and midpoint SOS is quite a nice Latin meets deep house track that I can vibe to. The closer, Far Away, brings back some of the jazz and soul that Simz is more known for and I vibe with that also, even if its a lot more lightweight that I'd expect from a Simz track. 

Drop 7 is perfectly listenable but on the whole it just doesn't leave much of an impression. I would have rather this had spent a bit longer in the oven and had more of its own identity, because it is a significant step below everything Simz has put out since 2018 and I'm definitely going to forget about it within a few weeks.

Top Tracks: Mood Swings, SOS, Far Away

5/10

Lucy Dacus - "Historian" (2018)

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm trying to get back to talking about older stuff on here, not just new releases, and this was one of my discoveries in 2023 that I really got into. As I've been exploring the rest of Lucy Dacus' and Julien Baker's discographies following the boygenius debut last year, this (Dacus' 2nd album) is the one that I have kept coming back to throughout the year. The record really leans into the rough and ready indie rock stylings that I thoroughly enjoyed from the boygenius album, as well as the raw and heart-on-sleeve lyricism that Dacus' brought to her songs on that project.

The absolutely phenomenal opener, Night Shift, demonstrates what the album is about perfectly. It is a slow burning break-up power ballad. The song starts off quiet and mournful, before progressing into a noisy, fuzzed out 90's alt rock second half where Dacus' vocals morph into something much more bitter and resentful. It is a really dramatic and powerful tune that showcases Lucy's talent as a songwriter and performer. This launches straight into the much more jaunty and jangly Addictions - with much more straightforward indie and chamber pop instrumentation. The song has such a vintage feel to it, focusing on the core sound and vibe without too many bells and whistles.

I think that's what makes this album tick for me. It's focused on being a collection of tight and well written indie rock and singer / songwriter tunes without any guise or image to deflect into. Lucy is earnest and open in the lyrics, there's no smarmy wit or deflective irony here. Nonbeliever tells the story of the rejection and confusion that comes with deciding you don't believe in God in small town America. Similarly to Night Shift, the track starts small and linearly progresses into the swells of strings and guitar. Yours & Mine has a chugging country rhythm section as Dacus despairs in the current state of the USA at the time, and how she doesn't feel like she belongs there anymore.

Timefighter is about coming to terms with the passing of time and the impermanence of life, where Lucy quite bluntly sings on the chorus "I fought time, it won in a landslide". The song is super bluesy and heavy, with a thick baseline and hazy vocals. The track is moody and menacing, and topped off with a rapturous guitar solo on the back end. Next of Kin returns to the jangly vintage indie from Addictions, and is super sweet with its tale of insecurity to being at peace with the world. The penultimate song, Pillar of Truth is a gorgeous ode to Lucy's grandmother, a slow burning Americana jam with twangy guitars and triumphant horns. The track slowly builds to an immense, joyous climax and captures the adoration Dacus feels towards her grandmother perfectly. The record closes out with the quiet and moody Historians. It's a decent enough 'quiet closer', but it feels a bit of a downer after Pillar of Truth and just the general uptempo and forward looking second half of the record.

Historians is a great, straightforward indie rock and singer / songwriter record. No pretence, just well written and emotive tunes that really effectively convey the stories they are describing in the lyrics.

Top Tracks: Night Shift, Addictions, Nonbeliever, Yours & Mine, Timefighter, Next of Kin, Pillar of Truth

8/10

Squid - "O Monolith" (2023)

With life becoming busier and busier post-pandemic and post-uni, the blog has become more and more of me just trying to keep up with new releases from artists I already follow, and less about new discoveries. I do want to change that in 2024, and get back to going through that 100 albums poster and also the David Bowie chronology I started doing in 2020 - but one record from 2023 that I really do want to cover is this, Squid's second album, O Monolith. Squid broke through in 2021 with their debut record, Bright Green Field - an experimental post-punk record which drew comparisons to black midi and Black Country, New Road and kind of made them the third part of the triarchy of the then still emerging post-Brexit / experimental post-punk scene. I didn't get around to talking about it here, but it was a good record with some great tracks, although a little bloated and not quite at the same level as the comparisons to bm and BC, NR would suggest.

O Monolith takes everything that worked about the debut and pumps it up to a new level; its' tighter, less derivative, more inventive and experimental, and certainly more wild. The band incorporate a more hypnotic and krautrock-ian sense of rhythm that draws you into this otherworldly place in which the album sits. There is something unhuman and unhinged about it, which to compare the band to their contemporaries once again, reminds me of black midi's debut, Schlagenheim. While that album achieves this feeling through pure shock value, O Monolith gains it through the atmosphere and tension it builds. At a tight 8 tracks and a sharp 42 minutes, it reminds me of some of the post-punk classics from the vinyl age where every track was vital and there was no superfluous fluff.

Swing (In A Dream) opens up the record with twinkling synths and repetitive chiming rhythm guitar, which sets you straight up to fall into this groovy but sinister record. Ollie Judge's vocals command you to "Live inside the frame, Forget everything, Swing inside a dream" like some evil hypnotist. The track breaks down into a flamenco style sax solo towards the second half before the rest of the instruments come crashing back in with a super thick and meaty bass guitar added to the mix. It's disorientating, chaotic, and disarming. This is followed up by Devil's Den, which starts off much more low-key. The track begins as a quiet swaying tune built around delicate flutes, but in the second half it is flipped on it's head, Ollie starts screaming, the discordant guitars come crashing in and the whole track descends into complete chaos.

Siphon Song really slows it down, bringing OK Computer style robotic vocals set against a slow building post-rock-y rhythm section. The track linearly builds to something louder and more dramatic, but nothing as chaotic and mental as the first couple of songs on the record. It really gives off that late 90s early 2000s art rock vibe. Stick this on a Radiohead or an early Elbow album and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Undergrowth returns to the off-kilter grooviness of Swing (In A Dream), complete with a bigger part from the horn section. The horns provide the pulsating beat to the song as Judge sings "I'd rather melt, melt, melt, away". The whole track feels creepy and deranged.

The Blades kicks off the second half and is perhaps my favourite track on the record (and maybe my favourite Squid track overall). The song is built of this descending, spiralling guitar rhythm, and spiky accentuating lead guitar parts. The song is so dynamic, rising up and then slowing down, and then rising back up again. The sinister paranoia of the song is also very much to my taste, as the song slowly morphs from the half way point, becoming more and more tense as Ollie's vocals become more and more insane. The horns sound more and more like sirens and the rhythm section becomes am overwhelming wall of sound, before it all just cuts back to a restrained outro featuring just a chiming guitar and quiet, restrain vocals.

After the madness of The Blades, After The Flash is at a much more plodding march-like pace. But it is equally as sinister, feeling like a march of the undead or some other kind of possessed figure. Like Siphon Song its a much needed breather in the pace of the record. The song progresses in its second half from something sinister to something more heavenly, as the riff ascends upwards - as if the protagonist of the album is attempting to escape whatever trance they are in. This clearly ultimately fails, as the deranged horn section comes slowly back in and descends back down towards the very end of the song, transitioning into Green Light, which is the most has the most intensely repetitive and aggressive groove of the album thus far.

The album closes out with If You Had Seen The Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away (what a title I know...). The song was written by the band's guitarist Anton Pearson, and while I do enjoy it to an extent, it does feel a little disconnected from the rest of the record. It's nowhere near as wild as the rest of the album and feels a little out of place because of it. The last minute of the song does build to an intense climax but as a whole the song would've fit much better on Bright Green Field than here.

O Monolith is a great development for Squid and really sets them up as something special, not just another band in the scene. It's intense and atmospheric, and also challenging and chaotic. For me, it has pushed them past black midi as scene leaders (alongside Black Country, New Road), as while bm are still just trying to shock you 3 albums in, Squid are trying to build something greater and more atmospheric (not to knock black midi, I still think Cavalcade is great). If your a fan of the scene, please check it out.

Top Tracks : Swing (In A Dream), Devil's Den, Siphon Song, Undergrowth, The Blades

8/10

boygenius - "the rest" (2023)

boygenius' debut record is probably my favourite new release this year, and definitely my most played. The group has decided to quickly follow-up with this short EP of leftovers from those sessions, aptly titled 'the rest'. I don't have too much to say on the EP, as these tracks for the most part do feel like leftovers. They're a lot more stark and bare compared to the lush and noisy production of the record, and are all pretty short (three of the four songs are under 3 minutes). The core of each song is here, but not much else. 

Black Hole comprises of the first verse from Julien and then jumps straight into the climax of the song before finishing rather abruptly. Afraid of Heights is a more complete song, but beside the country-twang of the guitar, there's not all that much noteworthy about it. Voyager is definitely the best song here, being a text-book Phoebe ballad with gut-punch self deprecating lyrics. The song is slow and spacious, allowing the atmosphere to sink in. The EP closes out with Powers, and the rough mixing and breathy vocal performance from Julien give demo vibes from the song. The song is a good minute and a half longer than the other songs so has some more time to build up an atmosphere, but it still only has a handful of ideas and sort of fizzles out after the climax - with a horn outro bolted on to give some sort of conclusion to the song and EP as a whole.

the rest is exactly what the title suggests, some unfinished studio leftovers. It's fine, but nothing more than a footnote in each artist's growing discography. 

Top Tracks: Voyager

5/10

Slowdive - "everything is alive" (2023)

As I mentioned when I reviewed loveless way back when, Slowdive's Souvlaki was my introduction to shoegaze proper, after years of loving artists that draw a lot of inspiration from the genre. I never got around to talking about that record, but it very much deserves its cult classic status. Its such a moody and atmospheric piece that you can really loose yourself in. I remember following this I checked out their 2017 comeback album, and it didn't really grab me in the same way. It felt quite blown out and maximalist compared to the subtlety and patience of Souvlaki. It was still a very moody and atmospheric record, but it came across like it was built for arenas rather than headphones.

everything is alive follows this up with a much more low-key vibe, and I've found myself putting it on a fair amount since its release despite it not being particularly innovative or ground-breaking record in the band's discography or genre as a whole. It is very dreary and greyscale compared to the hazy dreamlike nature of Souvlaki, even bordering on gothic rock in places. The tracks swell up around you, but lack much vibrancy, feeling very wintery and sparse - which has been perfect for the early morning train rides I have been having to take for work. 

The record opens with shanty, which is driven by swells of monotonous synths, as the feedback laden guitars fill up the lower mix, evoking feelings of looking out of the window on a grey rainy day. This is followed up by prayer remembered, where the slow plodding bass and drums and lack of any vocals make it feel like it wouldn't be out of place in The Cure's early goth period. alife picks things up a bit with spiralling, jangly guitars, a more notable melody and up-tempo pace.

I'd say the second half of the record isn't quite as slow and greyscale as the first, which is a good thing as I think a whole record that dour and bereft could get a bit tiring by the end. kisses is probably the catchiest song on the record, the vocals are the clearest and the song is structured as a simple new wave pop song, just with more atmospheric dynamics and effects. It really picks the record up after how slow and downtempo andalucia plays leaves the first half. skin in the game also has a memorable hook, although I don't quite vibe as much with it as kisses or alife. It's a tad slower and doesn't really have the melodic guitar parts those two songs did, but it's also not slow and airy enough to loose myself in like prayer remembered.

chained to a cloud is built around an ascending synth part, which like the title suggests feels like ascending up into the atmosphere. While quite a novel change of pace for the record (which up to this point has not sounded at all heavenly and ethereal), it's probably the weakest song on the album. It feels pretty underdeveloped, and the repeating synth loop is warn into the ground fairly quickly. This leaves the closer, the slab, left - which is by far the strongest song on the album. It's a monolithic piece, aiming for the wall of sound approach rather than the softer dynamics the rest of the album as played with leading up to it. The chugging, mechanical drums, ringing keyboards and feedback drenched guitars overwhelm you as you feel like your approaching some kind of impassable wall or structure. Where the rest of the album is bleak, the slab is sinister and imposing.

everything is alive would be a more notable album if it had more moments like the slab that made you feel a variety of emotions, but as it is, it is a pretty consistent if unsurprising release that's got enough highlights for me to come back to it when I'm in the mood for something bleak and moody.

Top Tracks: alife, kisses, the slab

7/10

Hozier - "Unreal Unearth" (2023)

 

Hozier's debut record has held up well for me over the years, being a brooding and sinister record in places, but also witty and tongue in cheek in others. Tracks like Jackie And Wilson and From Eden are basically non-skips for me when they come up in shuffle. 2019's follow-up, Wasteland Baby!, on the other hand, really didn't stick with me. I felt it was just so much less inspired and far more commercial and generic. The only track that I regularly come back to from it is No Plan these days.

Unreal Unearth is certainly more ambitious, being an hour long semi-narrative record loosely following Dante's Inferno. I'm not really a literary guy, so I can't really comment on how well the album captures the themes of the book or whether it adds anything interesting to them, but it definitely has a greater feeling of heft and importance than Wasteland Baby! ever did. This is evident from the opening two part De Selby. The first part being this moody and sinister folk tune where Hozier sings in Irish about the connection to self and God, the second being a bombastic pop soul tune showing the flip side, where he sings about running fast enough to escape the things he doesn't want to face. I felt Part 2 was a little clean and polished when I first heard it, it felt like everything in the song had been turned up to 11. It's grown on me a fair amount since then, as Hozier gives it all in the performance and the hook on the song is damn catchy.

I have similar feelings about Francesca, the massive 'Take Me To Church'-esque single from the album. Initially I thought it was fairly standard Hozier, nothing we haven't heard from him before, and with a little more gloss than I would like. But the song at the core of it is pretty damn great and outshines the slightly overblown and unimaginative production. Eat Your Young is definitely the album highlight, with gorgeous cinematic strings soaring over bluesy guitars and Hozier's very dry, sarcastic lyrics tackling the logical extremes of neo-liberal, late stage capitalism. The gory imagery of 'eat your young' is about the closest the album gets to some of the more morbid stuff from the debut that was always really engaging.

While the cinematic and overblown production benefits some of the songs on the album, it certainly hinders others. Damage Gets Done is probably the worst offender, as it just seems every decision on that track knee-caps it in every way. It's a blown out new wave duet with horrendous booming reverb gated drums. It's not a style that I think Hozier is particularly equipped to pull off, but everything about the track is so garish and un-delicate. Hozier and Brandi Carlile spend the entire time fighting to be heard against each other and the ridiculously overpowering drums. On the whole, due to the albums length and how its mixed, I'm finding I'm getting ear fatigue by the end of it. Every track turns it up to 11 and there's just no space to breath. It's not an abrasive record, its just too loud and too overproduced.

The two tracks that really sell the cinematic atmosphere are the midpoint interlude, Son of Nyx, and the closer, First Light. They both use the string section to maximum effect. Son of Nyx is subtle and mysterious, and First Light is the linear, building, uplifting closer that the record needs to bring it out of the darkness and into the light. This is definitely Hozier's most downbeat album, and it can come off a little needlessly self serious at points - it does get a little bogged down in the second half and by the time Unknown / Nth draws to a close I am in desperate need of the uplift that First Light brings.

Unreal Unearth is definitely a more interesting and ambitious album than Wasteland Baby!, but its definitely has its issues and is a long way off the high bar set by the debut. There are a handful of really catchy soul and singer / songwriter songs that I really enjoy, but their wrapped up in an album that is a bit too bloated, a little too self serious, and way too overproduced. It's definitely a pick your favourites and save them kind of release.

Top Tracks: De Selby (Part 1), De Selby (Part 2), Francesca, Eat Your Young, Son of Nyx, First Light

6/10