The Last Dinner Party’s second album will by inspired by “darker themes’ and “processing heavier emotions” according to the bands guitarist, Lizzie Mayland.
Now going as L.Mayland, they shared insight into the long-awaited sophomore album for the Brit Award-winning band during a recent interview with NME, whilst promoting their debut solo EP, ‘The Slow Fire Of Sleep‘.
When asked about how far along the new album is, L.Mayland shared that they are well underway with producing new material and gave a hint into the new direction the band are heading, saying: “I wrote a new song for my solo live shows, which is a bit more directly political and angry… and funnily enough, the upcoming album with the band is also quite angry at the world too.
“We’re writing in direct response to what’s happening around us, and honesty is always important for that.”
They shared that fans should expect a more emotional and introspective album to follow-up from the bands atmospheric debut ‘Prelude To Ecstasy‘, telling NME: “It’s got darker themes, and we’ve been processing heavier emotions. It’s a pretty dark time, so I think that is reflected in the music because we’re in touch with the world.
“It’s not all sad, though; there are some bops as well! It’s not all downbeat either – they’re fun, angry songs.”
Mayland has been promoting their new solo EP, ‘The Slow Fire Of Sleep’, where they have been able to use their own personal influences to express themselves, sharing in the same interview: “In recent years, it’s been Labi Siffre and Adrianne Lenker, but my long-term influences are Jeff Buckley, Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Etta James. Nick Drake is a massive one for me too because I’ve always been drawn to quite melancholic and introspective music.
“People may have a certain perception of me or my musical interest because of the band, but our ethos has always been that we’re five individual people with massive, varied tastes. Hopefully, this project will kind of hammer that home even more.”
The Last Dinner Party will be hoping that they can replicate the success of their Mercury Prize nominated debut album with this follow-up.
With one of the main drawing points of the band being the unique and enchanting style of singer Abigail Morris, Mayland shared in the same interview how much of an inspiration Morris is: “Abi is such an inspiration to me for songwriting. The way she can capture such personal vulnerable feelings and experiences in poetry is amazing.”
Although a new The Last Dinner Party album may still be a while away, fans can dig their teeth into L.Mayland’s debut solo EP, ‘The Slow Fire Of Sleep’, which is out now.
Abigail Morris has also shown her solo range recently, with the beautiful collaboration with talented pianist and songwriter, BC Camplight. Check out ‘Two Legged Dog’ below.
