Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
It hardly seems possible that it is two years since Dry Cleaning supported Bodega at Norwich Arts Centre. Back in 2019, the four friends from South London had no record deal, no website and no social media. They didn't have any merch – their self-released EP, Sweet Princess, would not appear until August of that year. And yet, to almost everyone in the audience that night, it was clear that Dry Cleaning were something rather special. Now, with Dry Cleaning signed to 4AD, the word is out for all to hear, and new album 'New Long Leg' is set to be one of the standout debuts of 2021.
Opening track 'Scratchyard Lanyard' shows that, even with producer John Parish's input, the sonic triumvirate of Tom Dowe's circulating guitar riffs, Lewis Maynard's pulsating basslines, and Nick Buxton's compacted drumming, remains. It is the template upon which Florence Shaw etches her distinctive blend of word and phrase, drawn from a thesaurus of observation and memories. Results are delivered with the deadpan ambivalence of a lobotomised Sarah Cracknell, the gentle monotone only occasionally straying into anything that resembles a melody. There is a trance-like surreality, creating a symbiotic alliance with the undulations of the musical energy.
Recording sessions in rural Wales saw Parish coaxing out a willingness in the band to experiment and try out new ideas. As a result, Dowe's guitar playing has become more de-constructed, Maynard's bass more flexible and filled with subtle touches, and Buxton now also embraces the use of drum machines.
There are themes that float and circulate throughout the album. Food, cooking, take-aways, personal appearance, toiletries, travel, accommodation. Shaw takes us trophy-hunting through them all with an Instagram / Tik-Tok eye and Snapchat abbreviation. Pregnant pauses startle with their offbeat, unannounced arrival, before the flow resumes, like power being restored to a shorted circuit. People and places are logged and noted, and playfully returned to. There is 'a dentist with a messy back garden' who drives 'a Ferrari with a license plate that says T333TH'. Seemingly random snapshots coalesce into vignettes of shared-flat inner city living, where the world is constantly craving 'more espresso, less depresso'.
'New Long Leg' has the markings of a cult classic. By the end of the summer we will be dropping Dry Cleaning lyrics into our everyday conversation. Now is the time to sort out your favourites, and begin practising them. Like a Rio de Janeiro bouncing ball.
10/10
