Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

South London quartet Dry Cleaning have been establishing themselves as a unique and original voice in pop music. Their first two albums, New Long Leg and Stumpwork, reveal a band whose many distinctive features are headed by vocalist Florence Shaw, with a largely spoken word delivery, backed by a fulsome instrumental section that features at its root the sonorous bass of Lewis Manyard.

For their third album they undertook sessions in Dublin and Chicago before hooking up with fellow leftfield popster Cate Le Bon in the Loire Valley, where she produced the record.

What’s the music like?

As distinctive as ever. Dry Cleaning have an unusual ability among pop bands to keep you hanging on every word and every note, and manage to make even their most oblique melodies and harmonies make sense.

Under Le Bon’s production, they are very much playing to their strengths here, if anything encouraging their unpredictable side to be let loose on the listener, confounding and delighting at equal measure.

The compelling vocals from Shaw are mostly spoken but have a pitch that gives them unexpected melodic meaning, with leftfield lyrics that are original, wirry and meaningful. Cruise Ship Designer is one of the best examples where everything comes together, but the loose funk of Hit My Head All Day, with the supple bass of Manyard is also notable. Shaw’s directness pays dividends on Let Me Grow And You’ll See The Fruit, where lovely guitar lines are spun above the vocal while the fulsome, dubby bass operates down below.

Sometimes Dry Cleaning’s music resembles a coiled spring, like a sotto voce version of Pixies, and Shaw’s quieter vocals, such as “Fuck the world”, in the coda of I Need You, are as effective as a full-blown shout.

Does it all work?

It does. Avant Garde pop is scarcely as rewarding as this, and yet none of it feels contrived. This is where Dry Cleaning are meant to be.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Secret Love is a peak in the Dry Cleaning output so far, a natural progression from their first two albums and one that leaves you scratching your head, tapping your feet and smiling – all at the same time. The first must-hear album of 2026.

For fans of…Stereolab, Jane Birkin, Broadcast, Cate Le Bon

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,773 – Tuesday 20 January 2026