Reviews

Dry Cleaning – Secret Love

On their third LP, the London post-punk band draws out glimmering bits of truth from their abstract inclinations.

Amid the strange and dark musings that consume her thoughts, Florence Shaw usually adopts a sanguine approach to her work. Droll and confident, the Dry Cleaning singer is bent on finding humour in the awkward spectacle of any situation. And while detecting her knowing witticisms can often become a challenge to discern—especially on the South London band’s last effort, Stumpwork, which felt like a chore at times—Shaw draws out glimmering bits of truth from her abstract inclinations.

That’s not to say that listening to Dry Cleaning demands heavy logical discernment. Shaw’s bandmates—guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton—do deliver a satisfying release from playing dirty and loose, though they handle their interplay with a proficiency that never stagnates. Secret Love feels like a necessary step up for both Shaw and her bandmates, one that answers the question of whether they can endure once the novelty begins to wear off.

Any Dry Cleaning song, similar to the enigmatic narratives of writer Clarice Lispector, can elicit intense preoccupations from Shaw’s bite-sized reflections. Her internal monologue goes into overdrive on “My Soul/ Half Pint,” one of the funniest tracks on here, in which she turns the simple task of cleaning into a feminist cry: “Maybe it’s time for men to clean for, like, 500 times.” Or take the steady, rhythmic stride of “Cruise Ship Designer,” seen from the perspective of a nautical magnate who falsely equates success with authority: “Climbing ladders/I’m not an ambitious man/I believe in design.”

Partially responsible for balancing the tonal mood changes in Secret Love is Cate Le Bon, whose production contributions enhance the band’s fluid rhythm section. Dowse’s intricate fingerpicking has that roughened distortion that aligns with Le Bon’s solo recordings in the title track, where Le Bon allows an openness that benefits the shaping of Maynard and Buxton’s playful contrasts. The airy “Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit,” with its acoustic-leaning minimalism, builds with a beautiful saxophone hook that, while distinctive in its own right, recalls the relaxed sheen of her 2022 release, Pompeii.

While both tracks might seem like more natural progressions for Dry Cleaning, the corrosive funk of “Hit My Head All Day” is anything but. Built around scintillating guitars reminiscent of David Bowie’s “Fashion,” the simmering rhythm saunters over a bed of synths as Shaw reinforces the misinformation echo chambers that surround us: “I simply must have experiences/Manipulate me, wiggle my arms.” It might seem contradictory for such an offbeat band to highlight their wild swings, but the same can be said for the bluesy romp of “Cute Things,” where Shaw even attempts to properly sing over one of their poppiest choruses: “For you (sha la).” Anyone who sticks around for its spiraling, unhinged coda will also find one of Dowse’s freakiest guitar solos yet.

There’s plenty to dissect throughout Secret Love, whether it’s through stumbling onto its non-sequitur zingers or consciously untangling its deeper concepts. There’s no wrong way to approach it; it really works both ways. One would never expect to connect the act of selfless love over a Donald Trump reference on the skeletal pulse of “I Need You,” but such contradictions are what make her vignettes so compelling: “The bit in The Apprentice/where they’re waiting for the phone call in the waiting room outside, and the finger coming down: you.” The catch-it-or-you’ll-miss-it references abound, and they wouldn’t be as effective if not for Shaw’s whimsy.

Which brings me back to my initial point—even at its most sombre, Shaw understands that it’s better to find optimism in the inevitable. And no better is this exemplified than in the final track, “Joy,” where she considers defying toxic masculinity with a simple message despite its bleak outlook: “We’ll build a cute harmless world/don’t want one from you, cult.” It’s a fitting way for the longtime friends to close this chapter, one that sounds more creatively daring than it initially lets on.

Secret Love is out now via 4AD.