Dry Cleaning – Joy
South London post-punk band Dry Cleaning drops “Joy”, the final single from their new album “Secret Love”, out January 9th on 4AD. Cate Le Bon produced the record, working with the band at Black Box in the Loire Valley after sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio The Loft and Dublin’s Sonic Studios with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox.
“Joy” closes the album with tangled guitars, intricate rhythm section work, and Florence Shaw’s spoken-word delivery. The lyrics came from an unexpected source: advertisements in Virginia Tech University’s History of Food and Drink archive. Shaw pieced them together into something that reads like a compassionate coach, ending with the line “Don’t give up on being sweet.”
Shaw wrote the song while feeling pessimistic about current events: the manosphere’s influence, the genocide in Palestine, the UK’s Reform party, AI spreading through art and music. She wanted to counter that with positivity and kindness, though she notes the wishes in the song have a naive quality to them.
The band commissioned choreographer BULLYACHE to design dance moves for each song on “Secret Love”. Dowse explains they wanted to move away from traditional narrative music videos and give people an expressive way to respond to the music personally. “We’ve seen the vastly different ways people behave at our shows: pogoing singalongs, full wig-outs, lone figures inhabiting the sound in their own private universe.”
“Joy” follows previous singles “Hit My Head All Day”, “Cruise Ship Designer”, and “Let Me Grow and You’ll See The Fruit”. The band tours the UK in January before hitting Europe in April and North America in May.
Europe:
- Fri. Jan. 9 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk (Resident)
- Sat. Jan. 10 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
- Tue. Jan. 13 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew (Rough Trade)
- Wed. Jan. 14 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell (Crash)
- Thu. Jan. 15 – Nottingham, UK @ Metronome (Rough Trade)
- Tue. Apr. 7 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
- Thu. Apr. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
- Fri. Apr. 10 – Hamburg, DE @ Mojo Club
- Sat. Apr. 11 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
- Mon. Apr. 13 – Brussels, BE @ AB Box
- Tue. Apr. 14 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon
- Fri. Apr. 17 – Dublin, IR @ Vicar Street
- Sat. Apr. 18 – Limerick, IR @ Dolan’s
- Mon. Apr. 20 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
- Tue. Apr. 21 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO
- Wed. Apr. 22 – London, UK @ O2 Brixton Academy
- Fri. Apr. 24 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio
- Sat. Apr. 25 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
- Fri. July 24 – Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival
North America:
- Thu. Apr. 30 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
- Fri. May 1 – Toronto, ON @ Concert Hall
- Sat. May 2 – Montreal, QC @ Foufounes Électriques
- Sun. May 3 – Hudson, NY @ Basilica Hudson
- Tue. May 5 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
- Wed. May 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
- Thu. May 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
- Fri. May 8 – Washington, DC @ Howard Theater
- Sun. May 10 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
- Tue. May 12 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
- Wed. May 13 – Denver, CO @ Meow Wolf
- Fri. May 15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
- Sat. May 16 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Ballroom
- Sun. May 17 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
- Mon. May 18 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox
- Wed. May 20 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
- Thu. May 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
- Fri. May 22 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
