Dry Cleaning – Joy
Dry Cleaning release “Joy,” the final single/video from their new album, Secret Love, out this Friday via 4AD.
“Joy” follows last month’s “Let Me Grow and You’ll See The Fruit,” and previous singles, “Cruise Ship Designer” and “Hit My Head All Day.”
With lyrics initially pieced together from advertisements in Virginia Tech University’s History of Food and Drink archive, “Joy” serves as a compassionate coach to those in desperate need of positivity and kindness. Like Stumpwork swansong “Icebergs,” it’s an optimistic sign-off for Secret Love with the parting words, “Don’t give up on being sweet.”
Lyricist Florence Shaw comments, “Recently I’ve felt pessimistic about the world. The influence of what they call ‘the manosphere,’ the genocide against Palestinians continuing despite huge protests, the rise of the racist Reform party in the UK, the promotion of AI in art and music. I wanted to try and stoke my drive to stay positive and spread softness and compassion. The wishes in the song have a naive quality.”
“Joy” is accompanied by BULLYACHE-choreographed visualiser starring the band’s very own Tom Dowse, who explains, “We were looking to get away from the longer form, narrative and impressionistic confines of a typical music video and give ourselves, friends and fans a way to respond to the music in a more expressive way that feels personal.
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. With that in mind, we asked Bullyache to design a set of moves to each song on Secret Love as a starting point for ourselves and others to mimic or interpret them in a fun and idiosyncratic way, regardless of technical ability.”
Secret Love is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships between frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard. Here, the south London four-piece take their place in rock’s avant garde, catalysing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins.
Secret Love began life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, all four members writing, playing and responding to each other in the room: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio, The Loft, and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, taking advantage of the sonic particulars of each space, and finally, with Cate Le Bon at Black Box in the Loire Valley. After interviewing various potential producers, they picked Cate—an esteemed solo artist who has also produced albums for Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Wilco and Horsegirl—for her unabashed positivity and openness. “Being in a room with them and hearing that vitality and life force that exists between them all, it’s such a unique expression,” Le Bon says.
Dry Cleaning’s North American tour dates have been rescheduled to Spring 2026. Prior, the band will tour the EU and UK.
Dry Cleaning Tour Dates
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
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
Fri. July 24 – Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival
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