The Last Dinner Party
On Your Side
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The Last Dinner Party arrived with a recommendation from an esteemed colleague and trusted friend. ‘On Your Side’ is their fourth single, so I’m playing catch up… but I can already see a giant trap people will step in with this band.
Folks are going to zoom in on the vocal and think Florence and the Machine, instead of listening more closely to appreciate the full drama on offer, halfway between Descartes A Kant and The Libertines. ‘On Your Side’ is yet another plot twist. ‘Nothing Matters’ was a pop track with retro influences, but ‘My Lady of Mercy’ dropped a huge melodramatic chorus while ‘Sinner’ brought a bouncy mix of Ron Mael piano and Army of Lovers chants.
So the trap that awaits someone like me is listening to, and talking about, one song – when the real story is what is happening across the whole songwriting endeavour.
With this in mind, the early-Coldplay indie sounds that introduce ‘On Your Side’ fool me not. I know it’s not going to be as simple as all that. Yes, this is their most indie-leaning song – but the artistry is more Dead! Dead! Dead! than Coldplay. The vocal is masterful, the melody and rhythm of the voice bringing flavour to the smooth instrumentation. The chorus is rich with a side order of haunting.
The second verse sees a flicker of fry at the edges, and the next verse conjures the saddest chorus lines of Suede, and their ability to combine a powerful sound with fragile emotion. The extended outro swirls like mist across Bodmin moor, chaotic and ghostly.
The Last Dinner Party have an album out next year and these songs hint at something quite special.
Watch The Last Dinner Party – ‘On Your Side’.
On Your Side Lyrics
I know I’m better off not looking back
Forgive me father, won’t you take it back?
That we were lovers
Bodies touching
On park benches
Stray dogs watching
It disgusts me nowI wish I didn’t want you
Wish I could do without
This blood on my face
Where you teeth sunk in
Bite me againWhen it’s 4am
And your heart is breaking
I will hold your hands
To stop them from shaking
If it takes all night
I will be on your side
Back to the olive mount you lead me to
The wind was blinding so I clung to you
And you smiled so sweetly
As you threw me
Down the rocks into the seaweed
You thought that I could flyWhen you’re lying here
I believe you love me
You can hold my hair back
When you kiss me
If you stay all night
I will be on your side
When it’s 4am
And your heart is breaking
I will hold your hands
To stop them from shaking
If it takes all night
I will be on your side
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Written by Fenton on
