Preview of the Riff's Album of the Month

With The Last Dinner Party, Scott Fountain has hit the jackpot

Image © The BBC

After listening to some of their songs (their catalogue is still not very large), I went and did some random research. Here’s what I’ve gathered so far: The three founders were in University, on track for other careers, but decided to form a band just for fun. They recruited two more members, who had formal musical training. They don’t have a permanent drummer.

Their rise has been quite precipitous: They only dropped their debut album (“Prelude to Ecstasy”) this year. They’ve been together less than three years but they are already attracting lots of attention, have a record deal, and are headlining their next tour.

They’ve been accused of being “industry plants”, ie, assembled by some behind-the-scenes puppetmaster. The accusation pisses them off, but frankly I think it can be taken as a compliment. If you’re so good people think you’re ringers, you must be damn good.

I don’t know how I didn’t know about this band, but they check a lot of boxes for me. Their music is big, ambitious, and unapologetic. Even when it doesn’t quite work, it’s not for holding back. It is full of baroque and gothic influences. They cover a huge sonic range, with a mix of classical instruments, rock instruments, and electronica.

The only caveat is that to play on neoclassical turf, you have to have elite-level writing chops, and a few of the songs have awkward spots. But that’s a minor quibble. For a first effort, this is remarkable. They can all play, and they’ve assembled a crew of crackerjack studio musicians to fill out the sound and provide the symphonic elements. Clearly other musicians get it.

I don’t normally focus on lyrics, but this band (well, mainly lead singer Abigail) writes stuff that is really interesting and gets downright transgressive. There are strong queer vibes running through many of their songs, though to my knowledge they have not explicitly stated they are a queer band. Their critiques of the Patriarchy could easily speak for women in general, regardless of orientation.

They do it all in a disarmingly offhand, upbeat way, which I think makes it more effective than simply being confrontational.

I love female rockers who refuse to stay in the “singer-songwriter” lane. I particularly admire female artists who don’t go along with the airbrushed porn esthetic that dominates pop music today. TLDP’s look reminds me of some of the Punk-Lolita styles popularized by Vivenne Westwood in the 70’s and early 80’s, but a bit more chaotic. I guess things have a way of coming back around.

I hope you’ll join the Album of the Month discussion this Sunday. I think Scott struck gold with this choice. I have even tweaked previous travel arrangements to be able to make it. Here is the link to Scott’s article:

https://medium.com/the-riff/the-riffs-album-of-the-month-the-last-dinner-party-prelude-to-ecstasy-934b569a4ef5

Here is the link to join the meeting:

Sunday, October 6, 2024 4:00 PM — 6:00 PM (EST)
Meeting link: The Riff — October 2024 Album of the Month | Microsoft Teams | Meetup-Join