Dry Cleaning – Sliced by a Fingernail

Dry Cleaning are back with “Sliced by a Fingernail”, a new single from their third album Secret Love, released earlier this year on 4AD. The London quartet — Florence Shaw on vocals, Tom Dowse on guitar, Nick Buxton on drums, and Lewis Maynard on bass — put out the album to strong notices at the start of 2026. This track arrives ahead of an extensive world tour that has already taken them through Europe and the UK, with North America, Australia, and New Zealand still to come.

The source material is characteristically oblique. Shaw drew partly from Jooyoung Kim’s illustrated picture book Welcome to My Life, about a dog with a very long body — too much body, too much attention, too much exposure. From there the lyrics build outward into images of peony buds browning before they open, the fantasy of being hidden in a crowd at night, the sensation of being pressed too hard into something that leaves a mark. Shaw puts it directly: “A lot of attention makes them feel sliced up. So they fantasize about being hidden inside a huge flower bud and about being anonymous in a crowd at night.” It’s written from the outside, but it lands as something more personal than it admits.

The track sits inside the band’s familiar architecture — early 80s US punk and hardcore filtered through stoner rock and motorik grooves, dry rhythms, Shaw’s spoken-word delivery holding the centre — but “Sliced by a Fingernail” feels more compressed than some Secret Love material, tighter around the idea it’s working with. The visualizer, made by BULLYACHE, takes Shaw’s lyric “Do a headspin / When it’s a grubby round ball” and renders it literally: a dancer spinning their head on a basement washing machine. It’s the kind of image Dry Cleaning seem to attract. What I keep coming back to is how Shaw delivers the word “concealed” — twice, both times like it costs something to say. That one word does most of the emotional work the whole track is reaching for.

Secret Love is already being called their best record yet, which given the trajectory from New Long Leg through Stumpwork is saying something. “Sliced by a Fingernail” doesn’t feel like an afterthought single — it feels like the album still has things to say.

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Tour Dates:

Europe:

• 07 Apr — Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
• 09 Apr — Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 10 Apr — Mojo Club, Hamburg, Germany
• 11 Apr — Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 13 Apr — AB Box, Brussels, Belgium
• 14 Apr — Le Trianon, Paris, France
• 17 Apr — Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland
• 18 Apr — Dolan’s, Limerick, Ireland
• 20 Apr — Tramshed, Cardiff, UK
• 21 Apr — XOYO, Birmingham, UK
• 22 Apr — O2 Brixton Academy, London, UK
• 24 Apr — SWG3 TV Studio, Glasgow, UK
• 25 Apr — New Century Hall, Manchester, UK
• 24 Jun — INmusic Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
• 03 Jul — Wilde Weide Festival, Kraggenburg, Netherlands
• 11 Jul — Cactusfestival, Bruges, Belgium
• 24 Jul — Latitude Festival, Southwold, UK
• 30 Aug — Rock en Seine, Paris, France
• 31 Jul — All Together Now Festival, Curraghmore, Ireland

North America:

• 30 Apr — Thalia Hall, Chicago IL
• 01 May — Concert Hall, Toronto ON, Canada
• 02 May — Foufounes Électriques, Montreal QC, Canada
• 03 May — Basilica Hudson, Hudson NY
• 05 May — Paradise Rock Club, Boston MA
• 06 May — Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA
• 07 May — Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn NY
• 08 May — Howard Theater, Washington DC
• 10 May — Basement East, Nashville TN
• 12 May — Slowdown, Omaha NE
• 13 May — Meow Wolf, Denver CO
• 15 May — Kilby Block Party, Salt Lake City UT
• 16 May — Shrine Ballroom, Boise ID
• 17 May — Wonder Ballroom, Portland OR
• 18 May — Showbox, Seattle WA
• 20 May — August Hall, San Francisco CA
• 21 May — The Belasco, Los Angeles CA
• 22 May — Casbah, San Diego CA

Oceania:

• 28 May — The Princess Theatre (Open Season), Brisbane, Australia
• 29 May — Sydney Opera House (Vivid LIVE), Sydney, Australia
• 30 May — The Forum Theatre (RISING), Melbourne, Australia
• 02 Jun — Meow Nui, Wellington, New Zealand
• 03 Jun — Hollywood Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand
• 06 Jun — Arrival Festival, Fremantle, Australia
• 07 Jun — Civic Hall Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia
• 11 Jun — Odeon Theatre (Dark Mofo), Hobart, Australia