New Music Reviews: The Last Dinner Party, Cate Le Bon, and Brìghde Chaimbeul

Arty fare from three different parts of the UK – Wales’ Cate Le Bon, Scottish piper Brìghde Chaimbeul, and theatrical London band The Last Dinner Party.

The Last Dinner Party

From the Pyre

2025, 7.5/10
The Last Dinner Party were breakout stars in the UK last year, making waves with their harmony-laden art pop, reminiscent of Queen, ABBA, and Kate Bush. I’m impressed that they’re back with their second album a year later. There’s nothing as immediate as ‘Nothing Matters’ from their previous record, but it feels deeper and more substantial.

We just managed to distill the harmonies into five parts for every song. There’s something really special about being able to make that sound on your own, with just five bodies, without instruments. It’s very primal to be able to just do that.

Abigail Morris, Interview Magazine

The start of the record is especially strong. Their theatrical roots shine through on the “Here comes the apocalypse” line on the opening ‘Agnus Dei’. “Now my house is your house/And it is a nice house” is another great theatrical moment on ‘Count the Ways’. Sometimes the record veers into weird directions like the trippy, off-kilter ‘Woman is a Tree’ and the creepy ‘This is the Killer Speaking’.

This band have all the ingredients to be terrific, hopefully there’s still some growth to come.

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Brìghde Chaimbeul

Sunwise

2025, 9/10
Brìghde Chaimbeul is a Scottish piper from the Isle of Skye. She’s a native Gaelic speaker. She took up the bagpipes at a young age, then learned the Scottish smallpipes in her teens. Smallpipes are less discussed than their larger cousins, but they’re subtler and better suited to indoor playing.

This record follows the embrace of winter time; the closing in of darkness, the cold, the pull to turn inward. But also, the customs of the season, and gathering for the ceilidh: songs and stories told round the fire; where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur.

Brìghde Chaimbeul, Bandcamp

Sunwise is Chaimbeul’s third album – it’s often entirely solo, although ‘Sguabag/The Sweeper’ was recorded live with three other pipers. Standout track ‘A’ Chailleach’ was named for Cailleach Bheurr, associated with winter, imagining her “waking up, roaming the moors with her walking stick, making sure she was getting rid of any greenery that was growing through and keeping that sharp frost in the air.” It’s charming when Chaimbeul’s judiciously used voice arrives in the second half.

Sunwise is evocative and gorgeous.

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Cate Le Bon

Michelangelo Dying

2025, 7/10
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys discovered Cate Le Bon, and she opened for him on his 2007 tour. She’s since released a string of well-received art-pop records. Michelangelo Dying is a breakup record, reflecting on the end of a long relationship. Perhaps it’s not surprising that it’s dark, dense and uninviting.

“Realising you’ve completely abandoned yourself in the throes of this all-encompassing love. The breakup was always like an amputation that you don’t really want, but you know will save you.

Cate Le Bon, The Guardian

Michelangelo Dying is a tough nut to crack – the glassy synths and saxophones sometimes suggest a dark cousin to Roxy Music’s Avalon. ‘Body Is a River’ continues the dark themes, but the more energetic arrangements make it one of the album’s best. Le Bon duets with John Cale on ‘Ride’, and even the addition of Cale’s haughty vocals injects a hint of levity.

I respect Le Bon’s need to make a prickly album this time around, but it’s not my favourite from her.

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