Dry Cleaning - Secret Love

Post-punk – Released January 9, 2026 – 11 songs, 41 mins

ROZ

Now we’re really starting to get this year going. For the second week in a row, the boys at Too Sweet Reviews have some thoughts and we can’t wait to share them with you. While we spent last week gushing over a blast from the past, this week we get back to our regularly scheduled programming as we turn your ear to a lesser-known band all the way from South London. This four-piece post-punk outfit formed in 2017 and has released a solid discography given their time together, amassing two EP’s and three LPs since their inception. Our album this week is their first release in a post-COVID-19 world after a four-year hiatus from their last effort. Join us as TSR dives into the delightfully strange band (with an equally strange name) Dry Cleaning, and their third studio album Secret Love.

If you’re one who shudders at the thought of a monotone, deadpan delivery to your lyrics, then you’ll most likely take away little from Secret Love at best and absolutely hate it at worst. The laidback, careless performance from front-woman Florence Shaw creates an atmosphere that feels more akin to a smoked-out café chock full of beat poets and spoken word hipsters, as opposed to the typical melodic soundscapes that take up the majority of the space in the indie rock sphere. This actually works well when you consider what the band is actually going for here, which is effectively a drawn-out absurdist comedy in the framing of a music album. In fact, I would gladly pay the ticket fare to get a day inside of this woman’s head so that I could really figure out where the eccentricities and borderline nonsense find its home.

Trying to discern the lyrics is a futile endeavor. Topics never seem to land in any one spot, with a range that would make even the most grizzled indie rock vet’s head spin around in confusion. At one point, Shaw goes heavily into detail regarding her occupation as a Cruise Ship Designer (even though she personally does not like them). On Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit she assures the listener that at some point in her life she was covered in spiders. On the titular Secret Love, she laments over people not enjoying burnt food. While the focal point is very much on Shaw and her bizarre antics, bandmates Lewis Maynard, Tom Dowse and Nick Buxton ensure that this crazy train stays on the tracks through stellar performances across the board, such as on standouts Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit, The Cute Things, and I Need You. On the latter, my attention fixates on the drawn out sustain of the backing synthesizer as it produces its wailing tone, pairing somberly with the lead vocal that is laid upon it. Hypnotic and charmingly off-putting – this album in a nutshell, really.

While Secret Love did manage to take me on a distinct experience down a very absurd rabbit hole, by the end of the week it was apparent that the qualities it possessed could only take me so far – much like watching a comedian’s stand-up routine ad nauseum (save for our friend Norm), the clever verses and tongue-in-cheek demeanor eventually lost their bite over time. Even with my internal biases for soft spoken verbiage ala Cigarettes After Sex or cacophonous jazz-infused arrangements much like Black Country, New Road, Dry Cleaning sat firmly in the ‘good, not great’ category, as much as I appreciated their oddities. Secret Love is definitely strange, but it embraces that strangeness wholeheartedly. For those of you out there that are into the surreal or the absurd, you may have just found your new favourite record of 2026.

Overall Rating: 7.7/10

Favourite Song: Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit

LUNDI

At last, 2026 – it’s time to start our journey together and see what’s in store for the new year of music. For TSR, the change in the calendar also marks a pivot in our approach. Long have we championed the lesser-recognized names, saving written negativity for those artists well into mainstream popularity. We certainly aren’t aiming to feed into social media’s craving for negativity and controversy, but rather to open ourselves up to delivering a different perspective as a trio – writing about music that gives us something substantial to discuss, good or bad. For me, we start with the latter, taking on the post-punk outfit Dry Cleaning and their third studio album, Secret Love.

Music criticism is important but fickle. There are no written rules as to what’s good or bad, but attempting to frame your mind from other viewpoints is critical to making astute observations that may not align with your personal tastes. Despite priding myself on being an open-minded listener, Dry Cleaning may be the first traditional rock setup that I simply don’t like or understand the hype behind. Listening to Secret Love was an abysmal experience that felt like a chore.

Tom Dowse’s work on guitar is the primary positive takeaway. The musicianship from the quartet is tidy, but too often drowned out by a poorly mixed Cate Le Bon production effort. Every time the band seems about to be given room to breathe, it’s buried beneath lead singer Florence Shaw’s narrow vocal range. Even in isolation, though, it’s hard to give the band overly positive praise for arrangements and riffs that feel generally ordinary in the grand scheme of rock. That sentiment may change with different artistic decisions in the mix, but we critique what we’re given – and this just ain’t it.

For such a mellow listen, there’s also a lyrical struggle to decipher what Shaw’s motifs ever are. AirPods, over-ear noise cancellers, or a home sound system – no matter the device, it was always the same story: a vocalist ingrained in the center of your brain with a substantially forward-facing delivery that burrows to the point of becoming distracting. Secret Love is a mundane sensory overload. Rather than attempting to fire numerous reactions at once, Dry Cleaning drown you to the point where there’s zero ability to emotionally connect with the output. A massive swing and miss for yours truly – but luckily for the band, I’m in the critical minority.

Dry Cleaning’s third studio album, Secret Love, is a niche collection of post-punk rock that leans heavily on Florence Shaw’s lead vocal as the primary instrument – a decision that sees the album struggle to find secure footing or leave a lasting positive impression.

Overall Rating: 6.2/10

Favourite Song: Joy

REID

Like many industries in society, the music world is relatively quiet in the first quarter of the year. Restaurants and pubs are empty. Beauty services are put on the backburner. Chances are your favourite artists are holding off on that new release. Consumer fatigue is real and labels look to avoid this lull and its impact on sales. With every phase comes the opportunity to buck the trend and stand out and this week’s group is certainly not afraid of that. Let’s dig into the third studio album from English post-punk foursome, Dry Cleaning.

Going in blind on an artist is always an interesting experience because with the variety out nowadays, you never know what you’re in for. A few songs into this one and Florence Shaw’s lead vocal style was a revelation. She doesn’t sing, she speaks! Every now and then she gives a deadpan chorus delivery but otherwise every word is spoken to the beat of the instrumentals. Now, anyone that follows along knows I love a vibrant, energetic frontperson who wears their emotion on their sleeve. Shaw is basically the opposite. So, while realizing this group may never be for me personally, I simultaneously grew an appreciation for how bold it is and started envisioning its potential, with the right formula. And not only that, could this be a sign of things to come? With podcast culture consistently growing, who’s to say folks won’t just start delivering their messages over AI-generated tunes? Alright, maybe I’m reaching too far on that one. Clearly this group made an impression on me.

In addition to the unique vocal is a lyrical technique relatable to a band we reviewed last year, Viagra Boys. Like Sebastian Murphy, Shaw uses humour to deliver serious messages. On the opener she compares social media misinformation to getting hit in the head all day. On Cruise Ship Designer, she sings of someone who settled into a career designing cruise ships because they are smart. But they have no actual passion for it and instead get joy in hiding things in their designs. Evil Evil Idiot may be the silliest. Shaw passionately informs of her desire to eat burnt food before launching into a public health notice on the dangers of microplastics. Is this band just one big joke, or what?

The bandmates and production team support the vocal charade with diverse soundscapes. Hit My Head All Day is hypnotic funk, with bass at the forefront reminiscent of the Klinghoffer-era of the Chili Peppers. The Cute Things and My Soul/Half Pint have irresistibly catchy guitar riffs, you could find them on a Spoon record. Songs like I Need You and Let Me Grow and You’ll See The Fruit present a much slower burn but unfortunately fall victim to the anticlimactic nature of the vocals. And therein lies the problem with this brand. The music is catered to Florence Shaw and will only go as far as she’ll take them. Secret Love is a quality listen, given the circumstances.

Dry Cleaning dare to be different and do so with undeniable skill and charm. But a group with unorthodox vocal and lyrical satire will continue to have a glass ceiling until proven otherwise.

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

Favourite Song: Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)