Dry Cleaning
+Maria Sommerville
Dry Cleaning is one of the most prominent new post-punk bands. The London band was founded when three friends from various punk and rock bands wanted to form a new collective and ran into the angelic singer Flo Shaw. Well, maybe ‘singer’ isn’t the right word. Shaw was mostly active in visual arts and had never been on a stage. And up to this day she’s still not actually singing; she narrates her alienating lyrics in a spoken word fashion.
Using dry wit she shares thoughts about air fresheners, supermarkets an Instagram filters, while her words and lyrics are encapsulated by haunted riffs and heavy drums. Shaw finds inspiration in everyday things, which includes her own diaries but also the writings of William Burroughs. Their 2021 debut “New Long Leg” was produced by musician and producer John Parish. It’s already one of the best albums of the year in the genre.
