Dry Cleaning

A study in contrasts, Dry Cleaning combines intense instrumentation with Florence Shaw’s nuanced spoken word vocals and lyrics that juxtapose the surreal and the mundane. The South London band introduced their taut, swaggering sound with EPs such as 2018′s Meghan Markle-referencing Sweet Princess, but by the time of 2021′s acclaimed debut album New Long Leg, their music touched on dream pop and psychedelia. Dry Cleaning continued to expand on 2022′s ’90s indie rock-influenced Stumpwork and 2023′s Swampy EP, but their musical forays were still held together by insightful observations and dry, absurdist humor. In 2017, guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton — all veterans of the southeast London punk and hardcore scene for whom music had become a pastime rather than a career — started playing instrumental post-punk inspired by the likes of the Feelies, the Clean, and the B-52's. As they searched for a vocalist to complete the band’s lineup, Dowse thought of his old friend and Royal College of Art classmate Shaw. An illustrator and visiting university lecturer, Shaw grew up in a musical family and had a fondness for classic British indie bands such as the Specials, the Smiths, and Sea Power. She joined Dry Cleaning in early 2018 after some convincing, and her seemingly detached delivery of lyrics pieced together from her artwork, overheard conversations, newspapers, and advertising added another layer to the band’s music. Dry Cleaning started playing shows in May 2018, with the self-released EP Sweet Princess — which featured the single “Magic of Meghan,” a song combining Shaw’s feelings about a recent breakup and Meghan Markle — appearing later in the year. Another self-released EP, Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks, arrived in 2019. That October, the It's OK label released a compilation of the two EPs that reached number 36 on the U.K. Indie chart. The group’s consistent touring included U.S. dates just before the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic in early 2020; by the end of the year, Dry Cleaning signed to 4AD and issued the single “Scratchcard Lanyard.” The song also appeared on April 2021′s full-length New Long Leg, which they recorded with producer John Parish at Rockfield Studio in Wales. The album peaked at number four on the U.K. Albums chart and earned widespread critical acclaim. In the wake of this success, Dry Cleaning contributed their version of Grimes’ “Oblivion” to the 4AD 2021 benefit cover compilation Bills & Aches & Blues. Their other releases that year included July’s single “Bug Eggs/Tony Speaks!” and November’s Tascam Tapes, a limited-edition EP of four-track versions of New Long Leg songs. For their second album, Dry Cleaning reunited with Parish, recording at Rockfield Studios and in Bristol, England. The band took more time to record October 2022′s Stumpwork, which broadened their sound to include influences from ’90s indie rock and took songwriting inspiration from U.K. politics, the joy of playing video games, and keeping in touch with distant friends. The album reached number 11 in the U.K. and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in the U.S. The following March, Dry Cleaning issued the Swampy EP, which paired previously unreleased songs and demos from the Stumpwork sessions with reworkings of the album’s tracks by Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul and Nourished by Time. ~ Heather Phares