(4AD)The everyday becomes poetic on this intensely original album of post-punk shape-shifting from the south
London foursome
At a time when such key cultural theorists as the bloke from Maroon 5 are asking whether the very idea of bands has a future, the debut album from south London four-piece Dry Cleaning seems timely.
In front of inventive, ever-shifting, never-repeating post-punk shapes – courtesy of Nick Buxton (drums), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Tom Dowse (guitar) – Florence Shaw intones richly detailed lyrical fragments of everyday observations in a voice that’s more sprech than gesang. Taken in isolation, non sequitur lines such as “Someone pissed on my leg in the big Sainsbury’s/ If you’re an Aries/ Then I’m an Aries” might seem rather on the abstract side. But in this context, delivered deadpan against sinuous rhythms, they sound intensely poetic, and imbued with wit and melancholy.