Dry Cleaning - Sweet Princess EP
After their entrancing shows supporting Bodega across the UK in the spring, post-punk indie outfit Dry Cleaning have started creating some buzzy reverberations. From the ever-growing South London ‘scene’, they’ve rose rapidly and are due to release their EP, Sweet Princess, in August.
The racing guitars on Good Night are lovely and bears a similarity to the Colorblind James Experience. It’s fun, playful, but aloof. The vocals saunter around perfectly in the mix, deadpan nostalgic murmurings that can be both funny, sad, and are distinctly human.
Speeding guitar riffs drive the music forwards, dancing alluringly around the animated rhythm. The vocals juxtapose this by staying still and deadened. It’s an engaging composition that is cinematic as well as moreish.
New Job has a bite to the guitar, but the understated drive, largely clean twang sounds reminiscent of everything from Felt, the Velvet Underground or even the Cure sans the chorus. The Conversation finishes the EP, it’s scintillating yet moody. The atmosphere is some what enchanting and it is definitely one of the best tracks on this limited release, sitting amongst Magic of Meghan and New Job in possessing a particular striking quality.
With the angular, strutting rhythms of Talking Heads a notable campus rock feel comes through, but without the typical American sheen which usually accompanies it. Whether through a cutting critique of Meghan Markle’s fashion, party-talk grievances or just the mundanity of communicating with other humans, Flo consistently has an antagonistic irony in her voice. It’s both captivating, eerie, and hilarious. Traditional Fish is as timeless as it is hazy, while Phone Scam has a palpable brit-pop wonkiness. The music has the right combination of sounds to make it fun as well as interesting. It’s just bite-y enough to feel threatening, but just slick enough to be very listenable.
8/10
Dry Cleaning's EP, Sweet Princess, will be released on August 16th.
