The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy review: With their decadent debut, the witchy quintet delivers on the hype

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. TLDP have no permanent drummer, which is a bit odd, but guest percussionist Rebekah Rayner batters up a storm as Morris yowls out lines of blood-sucking, stake-burning lust: “There is candle wax melting in my veins/ So I keep myself standing in your flames.” There’s a very cool swagger to the gender fluidity of the lyrics throughout. Driven by the cocky strut of Davies’ bass, “Caesar on a TV Screen” sees Morris singing of life as a man: “When I put on that suit, I don’t have to stay mute/ I can talk all the time ‘cause my shoulders are wide.” She takes up all the vocal space, pouts in French, shouts out to Russia, yelps low and high. Later the dreamy “Beautiful Boy” – stitched together with the soft, silvery breath of Roberts’ flute – sees her yearning to be a young man. “Sinner” sees the group go full glam rock ABBA: punchy-perky synth notes and multi-tracked back-to-back vocals graffitied over by the angry scrawl of Robert’s guitar.