Lizzie Mayland – now going by L.Mayland – has shared insight into the forthcoming album from The Last Dinner Party, and said that the record is inspired by “darker themes” and “processing heavier emotions”.
The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is best recognised as one of the guitarists in the BRIT Award-winning band, opened up about the long-awaited sophomore album during a new interview with NME.
It comes as they recently shared their first solo venture in the form of debut EP ‘The Slow Fire Of Sleep’, and told us about both what led to the release and which artists they were inspired by.
During the discussion, they explained how they took songwriting inspiration from the band’s singer Abigail Morris, and praised how “she can capture such personal, vulnerable feelings and experiences in poetry”. This, L.Mayland explained, was something that helped people resonate with the band.
The Last Dinner Party first shot to fame with their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, which earned them both a BRIT Award and a Mercury Prize nod, as well as praise from the likes of St. Vincent, CMAT, Brian May and many more.
When asked where the band are up to in writing a follow-up to the huge debut album, L.Mayland shared that the members are well underway with new material and taking a new approach.
“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,” they said. “We’re writing in direct response to what’s happening around us, and honesty is always important for that.”
When asked for more details about the sound of album two, the artist added: “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. I won’t go into too much detail, though; you’ll have to wait and see.”
Last January, NME gave ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ a glowing four-star review, and praised the members for honing in on “enough self-belief and magnetism to set them apart from what’s come before.”
“Some may choose to posit the band’s success as an antidote to the intense scrutiny – about their rise, appearance and decision to make music without a ‘serious’ intention – they’ve received in their early career. But take all of that away, and you’re still left with fantastic songs that are easy to embrace and return to,” it read. “It’s hard to miss all the things they’re doing right.”
As for L.Mayland, their debut EP was described by NME as “creating a spellbinding final result that touches the soul”.
Opening up about their inspirations for the release, they shared: “In recent years, it’s been Labi Siffre and Adrianne Lenker, but my longer-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.” Check out the full interview here.
