Dry Cleaning | Nonchalant post-punk

Black midi, Black Country New Road, Squid, Goat Girl, Shame: the post-punk wave that overwhelms us with riffs audacious in recent years is mainly the business of young English bands, who propose to surf on a surly and angry music. Another London group associated with this current by specialist magazines is pitching towards calmer waters. And listening to Stumpworkthe second effort of Dry Cleaning, confirms this trend.

Philippe Beauchemin
The Press

Less sulphurous than the groups named above, this quartet is more adept at noise and slowcore — the influence of the Californian group Duster is certain on the tracks Driver’s Story and No Decent Shoes For Rain –, two sub-genres of the marvelous world of rock that perfectly accompany the particular orality of the leader of the formation, Florence Shaw.

On a bittersweet musicality, it dictates its poetry to the spoken word. Her slam is intended to be detached, but engaged: she touches on important social subjects — toxic masculinity, the current challenges of feminism, the effect of pandemic isolation, police repression, mental health problems — through stories rooted in the banality of everyday life.

Much like the band’s first effort, New Long Leg, released last year, the recording sessions for this sequel were conducted by the venerable John Parrish. His love of the guitar is therefore very audible on Stumpwork : the barre chords and those created using the distortion pedals are numerous and fill the gaps between the poetic strata of Shaw.

Throughout the 11 tracks, there are keyboard notes – vaporous – and saxophone, as well as the dry snap of a drum and a fat line coming from the bass. Hidden behind the voice-guitar duo, the sound of these instruments is unfortunately less audible than on the group’s first album.

Maybe it will be different on stage? We will be able to judge on January 10, when Dry Cleaning’s roadmap shows a stop in Montreal, at La Tulipe.

post punk

Stumpwork

Dry Cleaning

4AD Ltd

7.5/10