Calling in from a record-store tour, singer Abigail Morris and bassist Georgia Davies reflect on continuity, community, and the literary foundations that shape their work. Even after nearly two years of touring, the fervour of their fanbase still borders on surreal for them. “Whether it’s people recognizing us in public or just seeing people at the shows,” says Morris. “It’s always a shock, or not a shock, but just like an insane feeling when people are singing the words.” Some even go so far as to create entire visual arts projects inspired by TLDP; there lies the kicker for Davies: “It’s like, whoa, you were like moved to create because of us!”

That kind of creative exchange makes sense for a band steeped in storytelling and theatre. Before forming TLDP, both Davies and Morris pursued a degree in English literature where they gained the tools to bring such vivid worlds to life. They mention William Blake, Cormack McCarthy, and Shakespeare as important influences to their work – which can be directly linked to many tracks on From The Pyre. Most of all, their affinity for literary analysis proved essential to discovering a hidden “philosophical” thread connecting both their albums.

After headlining a few shows in Japan, the band lingered in the country to get their bearings during a busy year of touring. Davies explains that their time spent there helped them realize something; this next album wasn’t a departure from their last: “We sort of were able to take a step back from the actual songs themselves and look at the body of work as its own sort of continuous piece of art.” Some may take From The Pyre and see a release of the past, but Morris assures that it’s far from the case: “It was really a sort of just ‘stepping forward’ rather than a ‘moving away from.’” Rather than a “separate chapter” following Prelude to Ecstasy, she explains, it appeared to be “a natural kind of evolution.”

Literature isn’t the only thing fuelling The Last Dinner Party’s fire: the community they found in one another is also an integral part to their rise and maintained success. “When Abby and I met when we were like 18,” Davies laughingly recalls, “We would go to gigs and we would wear ball gowns and crazy outfits. And that was only because we were doing it together.” The same dauntlessness they encourage in one another transpires through every single one of their performances and unleashes itself onto their audience. “There’s something so magical about being on a stage with five other people and making this collective sound that is just so big and so theatrical. And I think that that process in and of itself makes our performance so much more dramatic because you’re just feeling this sense of creating something massive by doing something simultaneously all at once.”