\n
Over the course of an hour-long interview with Abigail Morris, <\/strong>Emily Roberts, Lizzie Mayland, and Georgia Davies of the Last Dinner Party, it feels like I\u2019m sitting front row in\u00a0 their own private fashion show. Mayland appears in a top that\u2019s part faux fur and part denim with straps and stripes, a textural overload. Morris is in a white button-down with one arm covered in a sleeve and a strap over the other arm. Roberts is wearing a pretty pilgrim-style dress that she says is her own, but when I suggest it could be worn on stage, she looks down and says, \u201cI suppose so.\u201d The group\u2014which includes keyboardist Aurora Nishevci\u2014is being styled for their upcoming tour in support of their second album, From the Pyre<\/em>, and their excitement is contagious.<\/p>\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a stylist style a tour before, or certain looks for a tour,\u201d says guitarist Mayland. \u201cIt\u2019s about having looks that are cohesive across the five of us but still having elements of individuality and tailoring the silhouettes or the vibe of the pieces to each person specifically. But also creating this visual world amongst the five of us that is more unified than we\u2019ve been able to do before. It\u2019s really exciting adding someone else\u2019s talents to our world. The stage design is going to tie in with that. Hopefully people will leave thinking they\u2019ve got their money\u2019s worth. From the music to the visuals to the outfits has stepped up.\u201d<\/p>\n
More from Spin:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to imagine the Last Dinner Party stepping up from where they arrived, which was at the top. They collected the BRIT rising star award in 2024 and best new artist in 2025 in their native U.K. Their flawless, critically and commercially acclaimed debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy<\/em>, produced by James Ford, was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. They were so perfectly formed on every level, musically and aesthetically, it didn\u2019t seem like they could be real, and there was much speculation and accusation that they were manufactured. You just had to see them live once to know they were the real thing.<\/p>\nFrom the Pyre<\/em> comes barely a year and a half after Prelude to Ecstasy<\/em>, a speedy follow-up by any standard. It doesn\u2019t have the stickability of its predecessor or the unconscious need to exaggerate the lyrics when you sing along to it, but, at the same time, it represents the whole group with contributions from every member. It\u2019s also a lot more subdued of an album, but, understandably, they seem even more excited about it than their debut.<\/p>\n\n\n(Credit: Rachell Smith)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
You can imagine this album arriving a year and a half after your debut came as quite a surprise.<\/strong><\/p>\nGeorgia Davies: <\/strong>I love that element of taking people by surprise. Even though the first album came out a year and a half ago, we had been playing the songs for years and years, since 2021. We were pretty much just gagging to get in the studio and record new stuff. To tour the new stuff, you have to release the album, so we were like, \u201cLet\u2019s just do it.\u201d<\/p>\nLizzie Mayland: <\/strong>Maybe it does feel quick, but it doesn\u2019t feel rushed. After all that touring, we were desperate to get back in the studio and enjoy writing and making music together. It was a part of the job that we hadn\u2019t been able to do for so long.<\/p>\nEmily Roberts: <\/strong>We were all hungry to write again, and to be creative and write things that are different to album one, do things that push us a little bit more vocally or instrumentally. We definitely had enough time to actually record, but sometimes you can feel the pressure of everyone putting things out quickly because people become forgotten about and irrelevant so quickly. I personally experienced that pressure, but we were ready, and we did have enough good songs to go in confidently and say, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to do album two.\u201d But I suppose that\u2019s always a difficult decision because when is anyone ready?<\/p>\nAll of you were involved in the writing of this album. Did that make it easier? Was there an adjustment from the way you worked previously?<\/strong><\/p>\nAbigail Morris: <\/strong>No, because I wrote most of the songs in their initial structures, and I love doing it. None of us see songwriting as a chore or as a load to bear. It\u2019s an honor. It\u2019s what I do every day. It gives me energy. It felt maybe more collaborative on this record, because I bring in the finished song with piano and vocals, and then it would transform into a whole other beautiful thing. Doing that together, being challenged and pushing each other, working like that is really a beautiful thing.<\/p>\nI feel like I\u2019m a better writer, which is nice to feel like you\u2019re improving, and there\u2019s always a craft that could be nurtured. One of the great shames and killers of creativity is when you have a success that happens very quickly, it can tend to make you coast and rest. I definitely found myself doing that, also because I was in a state of inertia. I feel like often the first record can make you so depressed as an artist. It\u2019s like telling a sheepdog that it has to stay in the house. You just go insane. You start biting your feet off.<\/p>\n
The best thing, when as an artist you\u2019ve had some successes, is to keep nurturing that urge and that feeling of childlike curiosity and creativity, because you\u2019ll always be learning, and that\u2019s the best state to be in. My outlook on writing, at the moment, is that I can only keep finding out more and trying different things and getting better. It feels really nice to feel like I\u2019m moving forward, rather than just sitting in it.<\/p>\n\nYour outlook must have changed a great deal from the first to the second album. How did that affect the songwriting?<\/strong><\/p>\nGD: <\/strong>Because we\u2019re all perfectionists, on the first record, we had had all of those years of changing little bits, making them as good as possible, and not really having an audience who noticed anything. Now, if we change any part of a song, people are like, \u201cThey\u2019ve reworked this,\u201d or \u201cThey\u2019ve redone that.\u201d With the first one, we didn\u2019t have the pressure of being observed. For this album, we struggled for a little bit to be able to commit to parts and be like, \u201cOkay, I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to test run on the road, but I\u2019m happy with this.\u201d<\/p>\nER: <\/strong>I was quite inspired by the success we\u2019d had with the first record and with \u201cNothing Matters,\u201d especially, I felt quite empowered to write. I was like, \u201cOh, people actually do like this band.\u201d It gave me motivation to write my own stuff to bring to the group. I\u2019ve heard a few critics say it feels like a collection of songs, which it is because it\u2019s literally different writers writing songs. It probably does feel different from a cohesive perspective, because it is different people\u2019s stories.<\/p>\nLM: <\/strong>That wasn\u2019t intentional. We weren\u2019t like, \u201cLet\u2019s make sure we cover different bases.\u201d It was more just pushing each song to the most extreme version of itself. Sometimes we pulled it back a little bit, sometimes we left it at the most extreme, going all the way in with a big guitar solo, big group vocals, \u201cLet\u2019s make it a Rolling Stones stadium song.\u201d We did that for every song. That meant they ended up in different places from each other, but I hope there\u2019s still some thread of identity throughout it.<\/p>\nAM: <\/strong>When you experience a loss or a trauma young, it takes a really long time to process it. It\u2019s not easier to talk about, but I am slowly processing it in real time. When it happens to you when you\u2019re young, what happens is your body will find whatever way it can to cope with it and to defend you. That keeps you going until you can get to a point where you\u2019re old enough and secure enough to then start unpacking everything. But that takes a long time, because you have had these coping mechanisms in place that help you get through it, but that are not useful for processing grief. It\u2019s a long process.<\/p>\n\n\n(Credit: Cal McIntyre)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
You started the album with James Ford, who produced the first album, but had to switch producers to Markus Dravs after James was diagnosed with cancer. How did that impact you?<\/strong>LM: <\/strong>Professionally, [working with James]\u00a0 was a big safety blanket because James is so lovely to work with. He\u2019s so generous and kind, and makes it such an equal playing field in the production room, which he easily could not. He\u2019s got such amazing chops. It was really upsetting and really scary in a personal way as well that he was just suddenly so ill and had to leave the project completely. It was foundation rocking. It was a hard, hard thing.<\/p>\nAM: <\/strong>We approached this album in quite a collage-based way. We didn\u2019t have an idea of a conceptual record. We didn\u2019t have a goal. We just took it on a song-by-song basis. The main thing we wanted to have was freedom for every song to allow it to get where it needed to be. It was that openness and playfulness that we set out to make the record with James.<\/p>\nER: <\/strong>We basically did two weeks in his studio, brainstorming on the songs, seeing what direction they should go in, which was really fun. James worked on the early stages of five or six songs: \u201cThis is the Killer Speaking,\u201d \u201cCount the Ways,\u201d \u201cWoman is a Tree,\u201d the heavier rock songs. It was kind of great to get two different producers\u2019 interpretations of what the songs should be and where they should go. That was really interesting to see as well.<\/p>\nWe considered a few different options, but we really loved Markus\u2019 discography. It stylistically made sense. He\u2019d done Florence, Coldplay, Bjork, Brian Eno, Wolf Alice. That alternative pop\/alt rock, bit of Arcade Fire, aligns with what we\u2019re doing. We didn\u2019t want to go for someone who\u2019s a shiny, perfect pop producer. That\u2019s not really the sound of this album. It\u2019s quite retro, almost like, \u201960s-, \u201970s-inspired, and guitar heavy.<\/p>\n
GD: <\/strong>You expect a certain way of working and you feel a comfort in that, and the reassurance that it\u2019s going to be the same as last time. One similarity between James and Markus is that they have such a diverse portfolio. Even though they have their own stamp on things and are able to massage songs into the best state they could be, they also don\u2019t have a signature sound, and their range is really exceptional.<\/p>\nWorking with someone new was also a good challenge, especially for us when we have an interest in production and a dream to one day be able to self-produce everything in-house, it\u2019s great to learn things from different producers and different styles. We\u2019re always trying to expand on pre-existing skills and getting rid of the editor or the subjective voice and yearning to learn more and be a more skillful musician, a more well-rounded person. Individually, we have our roles within the band, but we also want to keep expanding as a group of people, as an artistic collective.<\/p>\n\n\n(Courtesy of Q Prime)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Experiencing your live shows, you create a safe space for your audience, which feels very inclusive and communal.<\/strong><\/p>\nAM: <\/strong>When you start having bigger shows and sensing how people might feel and how the crowd might be overheated or too packed, people can feel anxious about speaking up if they need help, if they\u2019re dehydrated or if they\u2019re hurt, because they\u2019re worried about ruining the show or upsetting other audience members. Making it clear that you\u2019re not going to be in trouble if you need help is what I would want to hear if I was in a crowd. We can restart a song. It\u2019s not the end of the world. People should always feel like they can get help in a show, otherwise it\u2019s irresponsible.<\/p>\nWhat do you feel would be helpful for the music industry to have in place for new artists?<\/strong>AM: <\/strong>Our label offered therapy, which is really amazing. That\u2019s a huge, great step forward. The big thing for us was that when we went on tour for the first time, we had no idea of the toll it would take. We bit off more than we could chew and ended up suffering because of it. So I wonder, if in teams, when there\u2019s a tour to be booked, to have a third party who has experience with that sort of thing to point out a tour to a new band and say, \u201cThat\u2019s four weeks, and you\u2019re on the road, and you\u2019re going to feel like this after three weeks,\u201d just so they have an idea of how intense it\u2019s going to be. It\u2019s so hard when you\u2019re a new band because you need to take every opportunity that comes, and it feels like every opportunity is so finite, so you end up overdoing it. It would be helpful to have an advisor in that respect.<\/p>\nDo you think you would have listened to them?<\/strong>AM: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know, is the thing.<\/p>\nCatch the Last Dinner Party during their 2026 North American tour<\/a> starting in Austin, Texas, on March 27.<\/em><\/p>\nTo see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the course of an hour-long interview with Abigail Morris, Emily Roberts, Lizzie Mayland, and Georgia Davies of the Last Dinner Party, it feels like I\u2019m sitting front row in\u00a0 their own private fashion show. Mayland appears in a top that\u2019s part faux fur and part denim with straps and stripes, a textural overload. Morris […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2162239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[414822,346997,414821,361877,414824,414823],"class_list":["post-2162238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-abigail-morris","tag-debut-album","tag-emily-roberts","tag-georgia-davies","tag-james-ford","tag-lizzie-mayland"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Last-Dinner-Partys-Second-Course.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2162240,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162238\/revisions\/2162240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2162239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}