Biography
Dry Cleaning are a four-piece post-punk band from London made up of Florence Shaw (vocals), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Nick Buxton (drums).[2] Shaw is a visual artist, picture researcher and drawing lecturer who had never sung on stage before the group formed.[2]
Their lyrics, delivered in a deadpan spoken style, have been described as collage-like, drawing on surrealist books, overheard conversations and remembered fragments.[2] They released the EPs Sweet Princess and Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks in 2019, followed by the debut album New Long Leg on 4AD in 2021, produced by John Parish.[2][3]
Shaw has said the band never arrives with finished songs. They improvise in rehearsal while she shapes fragments from a notebook she carries everywhere, a habit she picked up at art school and calls life-changing.[4]
The single "Strong Feelings" was later used in a Chanel haute couture show.[5]
References
- Album Review: Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg (Beats Per Minute) — Review covering Shaw's spoken delivery, the band's playing, the album's tone and the opening track.
- Reviewing politics: Dry Cleaning's New Long Leg (New Statesman) — Details on Shaw's collage-like lyric method, the band's formation, and the album's resistance to a single theme.
- Dry Cleaning, New Long Leg review (NME) — Production by John Parish, recording at Rockfield Studios, and the album's playful tone.
- Dry Cleaning's Florence Shaw on New Long Leg (Nylon) — Shaw on her notebook and the band's improvisational process.
- New Long Leg (Wikipedia) — Singles, video credits and the Chanel runway use.