The Last Dinner Party have seen a meteoric rise since their debut album, , dropped into the UK No 1 album slot earlier this year as the biggest-selling debut in nearly a decade. Tours with Hozier and Florence & The Machine, along with a BBC Sound of 2024 award, have seen the band hit dreamy highs, a sharp trajectory for guitarist Emily Roberts. “I did a degree in before going on to work as a session player for a few artists,” she tells us.
“It was Covid when I graduated, so once things got more back to normal I started the job on [West End show] , which I quit to join the band.” While the band’s richly textured music sits in the mainstream quarter, Emily’s background has proven useful. “Having all of the jazz theory knowledge gives me a lot of ideas when it comes to writing a rock or pop song,” she acknowledges.
“It’s definitely helped having that theory behind it when it comes to improvising ideas and understanding harmony. On the track , there was a lot of jazz influence in the lead lines, which was interesting. And we all come from different training backgrounds.
“Aurora [Nishevci, keys] is a composer and comes from a classical background, whereas Lizzie [Mayland, guitar and vocals] did art history, and [Georgia Davies, bass, and Abigail Morris, lead vocals] did English literature, so there’s a broad range.” To make sure they were ready for the stage, the band began rehearsing a year before they went public. “Once we had our first gig booked we .