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Hype is a dangerous thing for bands like The Last Dinner Party, in that music journalism so often fails female musicians: reducing them to artifice, or reviving the ever-baffling question of authenticity — a question rarely addressed to men. The five-piece from London (four women and one member who identifies as non-binary) have been subject to all of the above, and weathered the PR storm deftly, steadily gaining momentum thanks to a ceaseless touring schedule and five wildly lavish singles. Now, at last, comes Prelude To Ecstacy, their debut album, produced by James Ford (also responsible for last year’s That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware). The album splits its husk with a gorgeous orchestral opening track, then navigates through some Albanian chanting and lush flute arrangements… gambles which are seldom pulled off, yet land gracefully here. The singles Nothing Matters and Sinner are positively McCartneyesque – unfettered, changeable and genre-devouring. It’s an impressive debut: bacchanalian in its scope and rococo without being icky.