An ensemble like no other has come together for Help2, the War Child charity album. Arctic Monkeys’ reunion kick-started what has been a phenomenal rollout of all-time greats and future legends, offering their work to a worthy cause. The Last Dinner Party, hot off the heels of From the Pyre, affords listeners another track from their wonderfully floaty and confident style with Let’s Do It Again!. Avid fans of the band may note a few songs from the band are yet to be released, and with two albums’ worth of material to pick from already, it appears there’s no shortage of quality work from the group. Crucial to the songs released so far from Help2 is that these are snippets from active groups or creatives who are pursuing their next steps, rather than focusing their wordplay and intention on charity entirely. It makes the project feel more natural, a collection and celebration of music as well as a chance to hear the brightest talents work on a good cause.
Let’s Do It Again!, then, is a song that would fit in inevitably well to The Last Dinner Party’s setlist. Just because it’s from a charity album doesn’t mean it’s destined for the cutting room floor on future shows. It has all the class and spirit of The Last Dinner Party’s core sound, but also offers some brighter flourishes which the band had kindled on From the Pyre. Playful with the notions of heartbreak is the tone The Last Dinner Party settles into so well here, a sound which worked well with the nuance of Abigail Morris’ vocal work on the band’s debut, Prelude to Ecstasy. What the band offers here is a continuation of their core thematics, and it’ll be a welcome entry point for those not quite familiar with the group. A lot broader than the works which would appear on their two studio albums, but such is the point. There’ll not be anything too volatile or experimental from the artists appearing on Help2, it’s not the place to create a whole new image.
But that’s not to say The Last Dinner Party play up their style for the sake of creating a comfortable song. There’s a stomping, swaying style to the instrumental effort here, a slower tempo to what their best works have offered, but it stands tall. Emily Roberts’ guitar work is nothing short of fantastic, inevitably so, but it sounds like it sets the tone far more than anything else featured on Let’s Do It Again!. The Last Dinner Party use this as a chance to lay their influences bare, especially when the piano piece towards the end of the song overwhelms the track, a wonderful blowout for the latter stages of a song calling for the repetitions of intimacy when the act is so far from possible. Aurora Nishevci and Roberts are crucial to that momentum in the latter moments of the song, which serves not just as a worthy War Child track but a fantastic example of what The Last Dinner Party can do.
Thrilling and classy work from The Last Dinner Party, though that’s no surprise. The band has set a high bar with their first two releases, and it seems there’s a good stockpile of strong work behind them. What the group has managed to do with Let’s Do It Again! is what they managed with From the Pyre. They’re putting the pieces together of a very strong and unique sound. At times playful, at times suggestive, it works wonders for the band and their commentaries. Their brand of escapism has weathered a particularly rough storm but their intentions are made clear with this War Child album appearance, a strong undertaking from the band, with a worthy song to back up their talents.
