The Last Dinner Party Explore Loss, Grief, and the Permanence of it All in "The Scythe"
Photo: Cal McIntyre
There are several universal truths. Change is constant, love is everywhere, and, perhaps morbidly, death comes for us all. In The Last Dinner Party's latest single, "The Scythe," the band tackles grief and explores the concept of transformation. Shifting from their usual theatrics, the single takes on a haunting tone, capturing deep feelings of mourning and how lost loved ones seem to linger everywhere in life.
"The Scythe" delivers bloody and brutal imagery from the start. Lead singer Abigail Morris's vocal delivery softens the brutal, limb-severing opener, with lines like "It'll take you too / Take a long time / Limbs'll disconnect / Like the phone lines," floating over haunting organ chords, before making way for killer electric guitar lines.
Later, she acknowledges that "nothing lasts" and each life runs its course, touching on broad and unanswerable questions, and yet finding comfort in the open-endedness. Humming, floaty instrumentals build a warmth that kindles a sense of acceptance, with Morris adding in the ambitious choruses, "I'll see you in the next one / Next time I know you'll call."
"This song began 9 years ago, like a prophecy," shares Morris in a statement. "I wrote it before I had known anything of grief or heartbreak, how a relationship ending feels exactly the same as that person dying. Once you know how it feels to lose someone, you enter a new realm from which you can never return. You're trying to reach them telepathically through psychics or song lyrics (sometimes those two become the same), and sometimes they give you a reply. It can take 9 years to realise you're even grieving at all, but once you do, you see them everywhere - in a robin, in a street fox, in a Wim Wenders film. The Scythe comes for everyone, and you shouldn't be afraid about what's on the other side."
The accompanying music video, directed by Fiona Jane Burgess, is a visually stunning and deeply personal project that beautifully combines a celebration of long-lasting relationships with the touching idea of imagining growing old together with loved ones. Its powerful images and storytelling fit perfectly with the themes in the song, creating a clear story that matches Morris' emotional lyrics.
"The Scythe" is the second track to be shared from the band's forthcoming second album, From The Pyre, following the success of their last release, the western-flecked "This Is The Killer Speaking." The upcoming record, set to release October 17, sees the band having fun and experimenting with the limits of their creativity rather than feeling any innate pressure to follow up on what was an explosively successful debut record, developing and maturing their songwriting together as a tight unit, as the endless months out on the road pay testament to.
Watch the "The Scythe" video below:
