⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 – enigmatic, dramatic, emotional

Following an explosive debut album, The Last Dinner Party has released their second, From the Pyre.

Although this new album shifts slightly from their original baroque-pop style, the dramatics have certainly not been left behind.

The three singles, Second Best, This is the Killer Speaking, and The Scythe are just as flamboyant and epic as the singles from Prelude to Ecstasy.
Abigail Morris’ vocals are still enchanting, and the instrumentals (Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies, Aurora Nishevci) which would feel erratic and disjointed in any other album, keep the listener excited.

The first track, Agnus Dei, introduces the band’s classic use of religious imagery, and Count The Ways has a catchy backing.
Especially when performed live – like in Southampton on Sunday – these are a near perfect opening to the album, ever flamboyant and a spectacle to behold.

The track list picks up with two of the singles (Second Best and This is the Killer Speaking) followed by anti-war anthem Rifle and Woman is a Tree, which is inspired by the TV show Yellowjackets.
They keep the energy going, and Rifle rings especially poignant following the most recent ceasefire deal in Gaza.
It is the strongest non-single song, building up into a cacophony of urgency and emotion led by guitarist Mayland.

Unfortunately, the album falters after this, with the style shifting in a way that may make audiences think they have suddenly switched albums.
I Hold Your Anger and Sail Away aren’t bad songs, nor are they poorly performed, but their tone and style is just so different from the other songs that they sound more like a last minute addition to bulk out the run time than a deliberate choice to have a lull in energy in the middle of the album.

The Scythe does manage to pick the energy back up in time for the end of the 42-minute runtime, and is perhaps the best track overall.
Originally about a teenage breakup, the lyricism strikes a chord deep within anyone who has experienced a loss, and the theatrical feeling shows off exactly what this band is capable of.

Inferno is not a bad ending to the album by any means; it’s a decently strong song and feels more closely aligned with The Last Dinner Party’s usual style.
Adorned with religious imagery, filled with a beautiful range of vocals, and final notes that blend seamlessly back into the beginning of Agnus Dei, it should be quite the showstopper.
But, similar to its first album counterpart Mirror, it doesn’t quite hold up the energy created by the track before it, releasing some of that folk-horror movie tension the album is inspired by.
It’s symptomatic of a larger problem; this album is just a bit rushed, and a bit underwhelming compared to its predecessor.

Despite all of the individual songs being good, even excellent at times, the album as a whole feels ever so slightly disconnected from itself.
Perhaps this is intentional, to keep the listener uneasy, but it mainly comes across as a let-down from their carefully constructed debut from 2024.
Such a heavy contrast isn’t necessarily a bad move, it was simply executed poorly.
The band themselves described it as “raw and earthy and animal and free”, but perhaps have missed the mark this time.
That being said, they had set a nearly impossible standard with Prelude to Ecstasy, and hope is far from lost for The Last Dinner Party to use their extremely promising potential to find their sound.

A deep dive into the history of the 4B Movement.

American Democrats are now frantically running to find answers on Google after the recent election results.

The main answer they found was none other than the 4B movement, which originated in South Korea, stemming from a similar movement called “Escape the Corset”.

The idea of rejecting stereotypically “feminine” traits, dates back multiple millennials, with the oldest example of this idea being Aristophanes’ ancient Greek comedy play “Lysistrata”, performed in 411 BC, following a group of Greek women withholding sex, thus forcing men to end the Peloponnesian War.

This idea became the inspiration for South Korea’s Escape The Corset movement, which was popularised in 2017, with the western rise of the #MeToo movement, inspiring women to reject South Korea’s unrealistic beauty standards.

The standards had women and young girls spending incredible amounts on makeup, perfecting a 10-step skincare routine day in and day out, as well as taking an extra two hours out of their sleep to perfect this standard.

Now, in 2024, the Escape The Corset has been rebranded slightly to the ‘4B movement’.

The origins of the 4B movement can be traced back to the national protests over the filming of women using spy cameras and the publication and sharing of these videos.

With the name, 4B, stemming from ‘bi’ being the shorthanded word for ‘No’ in Korean, the 4b movement, relates to the 4 Nos.

The 4 Nos rules are: ‘bihon’, meaning the refusal of heterosexual marriage, ‘bichulsan’, the rejection of childbirth, ‘biyeonae’ is the denial of heterosexual dating, and the last no is ‘bisekseu’, the avoidance of heterosexual sexual relationships.

So, as explained in an article by The Cut: “The women of South Korea’s 4B Movement aren’t fighting the patriarchy-they’re leaving it behind entirely.”

So, with all of this in mind, what exactly does this have to do with the American elections?

With Trump’s presidency officially beginning on the 20th of January and 53% of females voting for Harris in comparison to Trump’s 45%, many American Democratic women are considering adopting this lifestyle.

With the highest Google searches being in states that all voted for the Democrats such as Washington DC, Colorado, Vermont and Minnesota.

Furthermore, the movement has also caught the attention online, with most taking to social media platforms such as, to express their inclination to join, believing in Fannie Lou Hammer’s quote: “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

However, as we enter the final months of Biden’s presidency, it is unclear how many women will be making the sacrifice.

Bitterne’s local history society is helping to preserve the history of Southampton and the surrounding suburbs by collecting thousands of artifacts from local residents who have donated much loved items to the society.  

The formation of the society began in 1981, after the imminent construction of the Bitterne bypass.  

Those who were keen to ensure the area’s heritage was not lost under the bulldozers, salvaged and donated items of interest, creating a museum of timely artifacts.  

The society opens its doors six days a week (Monday to Friday) 10am-4pm and Saturday from 10-2pm for visitors to view and ask questions.  

Manager and Chairperson of the society Ian Abrahams said:  

“If we don’t preserve these artifacts and the information we hold in the museum, it will all be lost, and it would be a great shame.” he said.  

Gary Cooper, a board member said:  

“This is a wonderful museum we’ve got because it’s unique and it’s something a lot of places don’t have. It’s filled with all the memories and is an eyeopener for people.” he said.  

The heritage centre is staffed by volunteer stewards who have many books, photographs, maps, and street directories dating from the 19th century onwards.  

The volunteers have access to newsletters of local groups (including schools and churches) and computer databases, which can assist anyone searching for family who have lived in the area or those who just want to find out more about their city’s history.  

The items that can be viewed in the museum range from – old shop signs, radios, telephones, cash registers, gas masks, tins, photographs, shoes, and much more.  

Ian Abrahams said: 

“People will donate all sorts of things that are not necessarily dedicated to Bitterne, but also items that hold the memories of those whose parents fought or lived through the war as most artifacts the history society receives, are passed on through many generations.”   

When I visited the history museum, an older gentleman whom I interviewed, told me he resided in one of the local suburbs and came to donate old school photographs and historical books about Southampton.   

The resident mentioned that it is becoming increasingly common for items of a certain age to be misplaced or even destroyed, where he worries about the “heritage and information” of the area of where he comes from, will not be remembered.  

When asking as to why he decided to donate these items, he said:  

“I am concerned that I have no one to pass these items onto, because I am on my own and I don’t want them to be destroyed.  

“I know the society here do things, so I’m at rest knowing they will be preserved for a lot longer.”