The south London-based post-punk outfit Dry Cleaning starts 2026 with a confident offering as their third studio full-length, Secret Love, successfully expands and polishes their sound.
The quartet of Florence Shaw, Lewis Maynard, Tom Dowse, and Nick Buxton stopped and started the project a few times, recording demos and jams everywhere from Chicago with Wilco to Dublin with the Gilla Band. In the end, they decided to work with Cate Le Bon, who produced the album in the south of France, and that partnership is a perfect match.
The band uses the studio to mix influences and styles, remaining slightly off kilter in a positive way throughout Secret Love. Shaw’s deadpan speak/sing style pulls at both the mundane and the fantastical as the lyrics vary from line to line, at times barely connecting to a full song. Her style may not be for everyone, but it is key to separate Dry Cleaning as Shaw’s vocals/lyrics are unique.
The longest offering is opener “Hit My Head All Day” which sounds very much influenced by the second side of the Talking Heads classic, Remain in Light. The ghostly, sparse funk and artsy accents flow wonderfully, announcing the record, and the album’s end also features quite a few highlights. Wrapping up strong, “Rocks” lives up to its title with some of the most straightforward playing here, “The Cute Things” finds Shaw singing more with strings, dance-ready bass lines, and riffs. The art rock of “I Need You” never sits still, while “Joy” is a buoyant upbeat bouncer, closing things positively.
In between, there are a few efforts that stand out as strong and a few that miss the mark. On the positive side, “Cruise Ship Designer” displays spoken-word, enigmatic lyrics over bright guitar strums and a grooving low end, wrapping up before the ship crashes into port. “My Soul Half Pint” uses excellent bass work, while “Evil Evil Idiot” is the most aggressive/ominous, with scorched food poisoning the mouth as clanging, aggressive changes intrude.
Less successful is the headache-inducing “Blood,” which tries to build tension but settles for irritation, while the dreamy/floating “Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of Boy)” is fine, yet never really goes anywhere very interesting. Better is the twinkling guitars of “Let Me Grow, and You’ll See The Fruit,” which brings in layers of instrumentation/sounds that coalesce nicely in front of Shaw’s fragmented poetry.
Overall, the band sounds self-assured as they broaden their horizons without alienating their core fans. Secret Love is a gorgeously produced record that sounds vibrant, wandering, engaged, and slightly funky as Dry Cleaning continues to broaden their post-punk scope.
