THE SECOND COURSE

After turning the music industry upside down by taking femalefronted rock to the top of the charts while scoring a run of awards, The Last Dinner Party are back with new album From the Pyre

- NICK REILLY

IT'S A BALMY afternoon in early July and The Last Dinner Party - decked out in an array of white chiffons and silks - are peering down the barrel of a camera lens at a north London studio with an intensity and poise that gives the rightful impression that they're pros at this sort of thing. Guitarist/vocalist Lizzie Mayland crouches in a powerful, wide-legged pose that evokes the spirit of 70s Bowie, while their bandmates - Abigail Morris, Georgia Davies, Aurora Nishevci and Emily Roberts - cut similarly imposing figures as they flank their friend.

But then the imposing mood changes. A quick break is called on set and the sounds of rising US pop star Addison Rae fill the room. Instantly, grins are plastered across the band's faces as they start geeing themselves up and briefly goof around to the sounds of Rae's super-hit 'Diet Pepsi'. They can strike a pose and deliver a killer shot when needed, but you sense they also know when not to take things too seriously.

It's the kind of mindset that no doubt comes in handy when you're in The Last Dinner Party, a band tasked with comprehending a list of achievements in just over two years that seem as endless as they are impressive. When they released their debut single 'Nothing Matters' in April 2023, Rolling Stone UK said in our first interview with them that they "might just be your new favourite band". To back up that sentiment, we gave them the Rising Star Award at our inaugural Rolling Stone UK Awards in November that year. The nine million YouTube views of 'Nothing Matters' would suggest that the wider world agreed with us.