On the 19th of November, South London post-punk/art rock band Dry Cleaning made their US television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with a riveting performance of “Scratchcard Lanyard” from their new full-length album New Long Leg. You can watch the performance at the link below.
Dry Cleaning are presently busying themselves with live performances; having just completed a short tour of the United States, the band will be performing a run of UK shows starting on November 27th at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, and ending on December 9th, also in Nottingham. Following this, the group will embark on a European tour in January, and will return to the UK for another run of shows in February. Come May-time, the band will head out on a recently announced North American tour, with scheduled performances in both Canada and the United States respectively. You can find out more about their upcoming tour dates here.
Earlier this year, Dry Cleaning released their debut album New Long Leg, which has been well-received by fans and critics alike, with NME calling the album “a playful antidote to po-faced post punk”, in reference to the whimsical and occasionally tongue-in-cheek lyricism of frontwoman Florence Shaw. Shaw’s writing seems to be inspired by everyday occurrences; newspaper headlines, trips to Sainsbury’s, and watching television, but she often deals with more pressing, serious subject matter in between these musings on mundanity. In the song “Every Day Carry”, Shaw speaks of “Crappy crazy pizzas” and “banging pasta bake” over an atmospheric guitar motif and a hypnotic, Public Image Ltd. Esque bassline, before delivering the poignant line “I just want to put something positive into the world but it’s hard because I’m so full of poisonous rage” just before the song’s conclusion.
Sonically, the band has been likened more to their precursors than their peers; whilst they inhabit the post-punk genre alongside other UK groups such as Fontaines DC or Shame, their spacey instrumental style evokes a similar feeling to the music of Joy Division and Wire, with the bass guitar taking precedent in many of their songs, whilst an effects-laden guitar part swirls in the background.
New Long Leg was released on the 2nd of April via the record label 4AD. The album can be listened to on all available streaming services, and you can find physical copies of the album on the band’s website, including two vinyl variants, cassette, and CD.
