London-based post-punk band Dry Cleaning first came to our attention during SXSW 2025 at an event featuring tens of British bands. While other acts aimed to create a strong first impression on the stateside audience, Dry Cleaning stood out for their complete nonchalance. Singer Florence Shaw’s vocals were barely what one would call singing; her lyrics and style are closer to a particularly sing-song voicemail message, say, and delivered in a tone that suggests that no one’s going to listen to her message anyway. The other three band members – Nick Buxton on drums, Tom Dowse on guitars, and Lewis Maynard on bass – provided a well-synced backdrop; idiosyncratic as Shaw’s vocals may be, they seem to be enveloped perfectly within the instrumentals.
Secret Love, the band’s third album, keeps this uniqueness intact while tightening up the instrumentals into an even more solid rock sound, along with Shaw’s otherworldly lyrics that get deeper with time. It’s a great outing for the band, and a good first album if you’ve never given this band a spin before.
“Blood” opens with a tinny guitar riff that transitions into a metronomic drumbeat, clashing well with Shaw’s unhurried spoken-word dialog. “Rocks” is a haze of jagged sounds set to a relentless beat from Buxton. The Porcupine Tree-esque title track features beautiful guitarwork (even a mandolin), and Shaw legitimately sings a chorus; after hearing her deadpan voice note-style lyrics for so long, the effect is quite striking.
And maybe we’re overthinking it, but Shaw has a way of making her lyrics just random enough that you see metaphors everywhere. For instance, the second track “Cruise Ship Designer” initially seems to simply describe a ship designer who doesn’t particularly like designing ships but does it anyway. But the more you listen to it, the more you can interchange that specific occupation with any BS corporate job (“I need to serve a useful purpose / I desire very much a place in society”). The lead single “Hit My Head All Day” makes you think about how overwhelming life is as an adult – wasn’t it easier when, like Shaw, you were a child and wanted to be a horse or something silly like that? She goes overboard on “Evil Evil Idiot” describing the way she likes her food deeply burnt, before flipping her stance thirty seconds later to say that heating leeches chemicals into food. Is she really talking about food, or is it perhaps about idiotic and dangerous diet influencers?
What’s immediately apparent, though, is that Dry Cleaning is never trying to be unique; this is just the way they sound. A lot of this relates back to their origins. In their 20s, all the members except Shaw bounced around in various London bands, and then, somewhat atypically, transitioned into fully grown-up jobs in their 30s. Most importantly, Dowse became a visiting arts lecturer and eventually connected Shaw, a fellow arts lecturer, with Buxton and Maynard. These four artistic individuals decided to turn an adult band hobby into the main act – and you can hear that depth and self-assuredness throughout their music.
Dry Cleaning’s Secret Love is an interesting mixture of solid sounds and idiosyncratic vocals that truly sounds like nothing else, in a good way. Give it a spin if you’re looking for something new and effortlessly cool.
Rating: 7.5/10
Top Five Records 