On 'The Last Dinner Party'
This rising band are finally losing their edge as their privilege comes to the fore.
I’ve not been their biggest fan ever since, in Spring last year, Spotify incessantly suggested their debut single, Nothing Matters, to me about 500 times until I begrudgingly accepted my algorithmic fate. The song was distinctly average, but catchy, and had something baroque and whimsical about it — if only I’d known I would not be able to escape this sound in the year that followed.
I perhaps come into this with a bias, and certainly found it difficult to ignore the swirling rumours that this up-and-coming indie pop piece were industry plants (which the band have adamantly denied). But the latest twist in The Last Dinner Party saga seems to have proved me — at least somewhat — right.
Lead singer Abigail Morris was quoted in a recent article from The Times as saying: “People don’t want to listen to postpunk and hear about the cost of living crisis anymore.” This seemingly entitled comment has, rightly, caused outrage among fans of post-punk and those living through the cost-of-living crisis. I operate at the intersection of the two.
Morris, who attended a private school that can charge over £40k a year, has here made not only a flippant and reductive comment about music and politics, but has equally provided a completely false and ignorant view of the grave economic crisis that has shook this country to its core: 15% of households went hungry last month alone.
The Last Dinner Party make flowery, sugary-sweet indie pop that has captured the hearts of many young girls and queer-identifying people in particular. They are ‘cordially invited’ to dress flamboyantly at the band’s gigs, and have in doing so cultivated a safe space for self-expression.
It is a shame that a band that paints itself as loving and celebratory can knock down its fellow artists, and diminish a real social crisis just because they’d rather not touch it with their music.
Making non-political, romantic music is not a sin. Their songs are infectious and have become staples on alternative radio stations such as BBC Radio 6, and have gained traction on Radio 1. They even went on to win the public service broadcaster’s Sound of 2024.
I feel that a band with such soaring popularity, and the platform to boot, dismissing real world struggles is a serious problem, and one that should be called out.
When venues cannot afford to keep their lights on, and people can no longer afford to enjoy music as they might love to because it is unaffordable, tone-deaf comments from those protected from such hardship are utterly infuriating to read.
Will this be it for them? I very much doubt it; their loyal fanbase will likely shrug this one off, quickly hop back on the baroque train and eagerly encourage their friends to stream the band’s album.
Their fanbase extend beyond the microcosm of quirky teens, though: The Evening Standard has, in the last few days, lauded The Last Dinner Party as British pop’s only ‘hope’.
Things are looking up, then…