Dry Cleaning are an indie band from South London in the classic arty mode, guitar and drum based with a distinctive lead singer. The band is solid sounding and more than able to give it some weird, wild, wiry and wacky heft if need be. The singer, Florence Shaw , one should more accurately say intones. She has a wonderfully droll delivery, so dry and laid back as if to sound indifferent to whether you are listening to her or not. The lyrics she writes are filled with disjointed, but somehow fascinating, idiosyncrasies, that make logical sense on some imaginative level, but not on an ordinary one. Sometimes these include seemingly random extracts from overheard conversations. I just love them my favourite on Scratchcard Lanyard is - ' why don't you want oven chips, now?' Its the contrast between the active spiky energy of the band and the steady deadpan delivery of the lyrics that make Dry Cleaning a rather special thing.
Here's a sample of the opening couple of paragraphs from Scratchcard Lanyard
Many years have passed but you’re still charmingRows falling and exploding
You can’t save the world on your own I guess
Don’t send me it, you keep it
You keep it, you keep it
Weak arms can’t open the door, kung fu cancel
It’ll be ok I just need to be weird and hide for a bit and eat an old sandwich from my bag
I’ve come here to make a ceramic shoe and I’ve come to smash what you made
I’ve come to learn how to mingle
I’ve come to learn how to dance
I’ve come to join the knitting circle
I’ve come to hand weave my own bunk bed ladder in a few short sessions
It’s a Tokyo bouncy ball
It’s an Oslo bouncy ball
It’s a Rio de Janeiro bouncy ball filter!
I love these Mighty Oaks, don’t you?
Do everything and feel nothing
Wristband theme park
Scratchcard lanyard
Do everything and feel nothing
Do everything and feel nothing
All songs written and recorded by Dry Cleaning (Warp Publishing)
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