The pleasure of listening to this second Dry Cleaning album grows with use. Released last October Stumpwork rehashes more or less the same singular ideas that animated New Long Leg (2021), also directed by the refined John Parish, loyal collaborator of PJ Harvey: these grooves rock tinkered with a variety of instruments (whistles, saxophones, flugelhorn, vibraphone, samplers) becoming a cozy bed for the laconic but suave voice of Florence Shaw, who talks more than she sings. Less striking than the first, but softer too. The volatile musical orchestrations give a tone, an atmosphere, to the whole, which is better appreciated when one listens to it attentively. Post-punk and surrealist (the Gary Ashby which gives its title to single is a domestic turtle), but often biting, this disc, the lyrics of the musician evoking with sensitivity the disillusion which strangles British society. In concert on January 10 at La Tulipe.
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