This is the Killer Speaking

There are many ways to process being ghosted. Some people cry into a pillow. Others delete the contact and take up cold-water swimming. The Last Dinner Party, however, did what any well-dressed, theatrically inclined art-rock band might do: they wrote a gothic spaghetti western with a piano intro, Biblical imagery, gender commentary, and a strong possibility of murder. "This Is the Killer Speaking," the lead track from The Last Diner Party's second album, From the Pyre, is a revenge fantasy soaked in myth, mascara, and melodrama. It takes the age-old story of romantic betrayal and transforms it into a full-blown cinematic saga complete with dusty frontier vengeance.

The song follows in the emotionally baroque footsteps of The Last Dinner Party tracks like "Nothing Matters," except this time with more bloodshed. Lead singer Abigail Morris explained to BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders: "This is what happens when you ghost someone who's in a band. So it's our take on a murder ballad. I was listening to a lot of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash when I first wrote the piano demo. And then I kind of did it as a joke." The band liked it, ran with it, and soon "This Is the Killer Speaking," was part of their live set, debuting at Prague's Metronome Festival in June 2024, then turning up at Glastonbury a few weeks later.

The band wrote "This Is the Killer Speaking," with producer James Ford, who helmed their debut, Prelude to Ecstasy, and Casper Miles, who also contributed drums. Production duties were handed to Markus Dravs, known for his work with Florence + the Machine and Wolf Alice.