NEW LONG LEG
3RD ALBUM (1ST LP) BY DRY CLEANING
released April 2, 2021
All songs written and recorded by Dry Cleaning (Warp Publishing)
Florence Cleopatra Shaw: Vocals
Thomas Paul Dowse: Guitar
Nicholas Hugh Andrew Buxton: Drums, Percussion
Lewis Maynard: Bass
Produced and mixed by John Parish
Engineered by Joe Jones
Recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouthshire, Wales
Mixed at Invada Studios, Bristol, England
Engineered by Stu Matthews
Mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud.
WHAT THIS ALBUM DOES WELL: This is an album I have been waiting for, a long, long time. Spoken word poetry into observational prose accompanied by the right tone and well laid post-punk, psychedelic, fervor. First, it's spirit is paramount. It has this incredible laying in the grass, watching the birds weave and soar through clouds while you dawn giant headphones and subtly close your eyes to go into a vortex of color lasers and flashing lights, feel. It is a trip, but its one that has this confidence, this neat nuanced touch to it. This is not the first of its kind, 10 tracks of various ranges of musical exploration all arranged around spoken word, but it is unique in the sense that it feels relevant to our time, righteous with our thoughts. As Jim Morrison probably did in the generation before me, and as Jello Biafra did in my own generation. However, with Florence Shaw's cadence and sharp wit, you are privy to a more inner thought-like trance that feels almost more like a subliminal awakening than a passionate plea for artistry or veiled discontent. Almost as if we were watching the same commercial over and over again till finally we see or hear the easter egg that was there the whole time. It's with that kind of care that we also really discover how amazing their musicianship is here too. It starts for me with Thomas Paul Dowse's incredible riffing, where he goes from familiar punk stanzas like that of a Dead Kennedys to a scratching, screeching long chord form like a Sonic Youth, to even a more acidy rock 1960's vibe. Then you get Lewis Maynard's bass to thump in weird almost club-like strobe dance effects or just whip around an undertone that pulsates Dowse's furies. All while Nick Buxton goes from crashing symbols and Muppet Animal-like pounding to subtle drum machine pulses. It is a musical tour that all hinges on the mood of Shaw's words, as almost all songs seem to hinge on that cadence of hers, but they also seem to lead her into this zen like, step up to the mic and freestyle in this weird dichotomy and perfectly executed dynamic.
WHY CHAMPION THIS ALBUM: You are going to quickly either really love the weirdness of this approach and absorb the trances this band can put you in or you are going to be feverishly thumbing through your urban dictionary trying to piece together the cheeky slang. Either way you are going to be in and I think that's the real point, you feel like an exclusive member of a club that holds no meetings, doesn't ever call itself a club, and just when you spout the smallest bit of pretension it will bit you in the nose and stomp on your foot. You will introduce this to your friends and family some won't get it, some won't be patient enough to absorb it all and that's okay because its not for everybody, but it's worth a shot to try and see if its for you.
YOU WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM IF YOU ARE A FAN OF: Spoken Word Poetry, Sonic Youth, Dead Kennedys, and Jim Morrison
YOU CAN GET THE ALBUM HERE
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