English post-punk bands – 7th Level Music

Dry Cleaning have “No Decent Shoes for Rain” with their new single.

Dry Cleaning share a new single/video, “No Decent Shoes for Rain,” off their upcoming album Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. Following the recently released “Gary Ashby,” the group takes a more somber turn on “No Decent Shoes for Rain.” It begins with Florence Shaw’s vocals coiled tightly over woozy guitar and minimal percussion: “my poor heart is breaking.” Shaw says about the track; “’No Decent Shoes for Rain’ is inspired by grief, grief over past relationships, grief for loved ones who have died, and all the things that come with that; loneliness, numbness, yearning, ruminating about the past.” It shows Dry Cleaning in a more pared back state, not seen in their previous discography. The video is made of footage of the band in the studio at Rockfield and on tour.

WATCH DRY CLEANING’S VIDEO FOR “NO DECENT SHOES FOR RAIN”

Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band; bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. Stumpwork is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries.

This fall, Dry Cleaning will tour across Europe. Following, they’ll play in Australia, and then embark on a lengthy run in the US. Then, they’ll return to Europe. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and a full list of dates can be found below.

LISTEN TO “GARY ASHBY”

LISTEN TO “ANNA CALLS FROM THE ARCTIC”

WATCH THE “DON’T PRESS ME” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER STUMPWORK

DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Thu. Oct. 20 – London, UK @ Peckham Audio
Tue. Oct. 25 – Kingston, UK @ Pryzm (Banquet Outstore)
Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival
Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City
Wed. Nov. 30 – Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room
Thu. Dec. 1 – Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro
Tue. Dec. 6 – Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork
Wed. Dec. 7 – Wellington, NZ @ San Fran
Fri. Dec. 9 – Brisbane, AU @ The Brightside
Sat. Dec. 10 – Meredith, AU @ Meredith Festival
Mon. Dec. 12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Tue. Dec. 13 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Wed. Dec. 14 – Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar
Fri. Dec. 16 – Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel
Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
Fri. Jan. 13, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Sat. Jan 14, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Thu. Jan. 19, 2023 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Sat. Jan. 21, 2023 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Sun. Jan. 22, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
Mon. Jan. 23, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 24, 2023 – Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza
Thu. Jan. 26, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre
Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 – Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre
Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. Feb. 2, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneers Works
Tue. Feb. 14, 2023 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Wed. Feb. 15, 2023 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Fri. Feb. 17, 2023 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy
Mon. Feb. 20, 2023 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Tue. Feb. 21, 2023 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Wed Feb. 22, 2023 – Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy
Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sat. Feb. 25, 2023 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
Sun. Feb. 26, 2023 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Tue. Feb. 28, 2023 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
Wed. March 1, 2023 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Fri. March 3, 2023 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Mon. Mar. 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Wed. Mar. 15, 2023 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand
Thu. Mar. 16, 2023 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
Sat. Mar. 18, 2023 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
Sun. Mar. 19, 2023 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
Mon. Mar. 20, 2023 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. March 22, 2023 – Offenbach, DE @ Hafen2
Thu. Mar. 23, 2023 – Munich, DE @ Strom
Fri. Mar. 24, 2023 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
Sat. Mar. 25, 2023 – Prague, CZ @ Futurum
Mon. Mar. 27, 2023 – Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy
Tue. Mar. 28, 2023 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Fri. Mar. 31, 2023 – Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo
Sat. Apr. 1, 2023 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Dry Cleaning’s new single is about a lost tortoise named “Gary Ashby.”

Today, London-based quartet Dry Cleaning share “Gary Ashby,” the third single from their forthcoming sophomore album, Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD, & announce a worldwide headlining tour. “Gary Ashby” follows the travails of a beloved family tortoise lost in lockdown (“Have you seen Gary?”). Loaded with melodious hooks, the 2-minute jangle pop song is “a lament about a pet tortoise, escaped as a result of family chaos,” explains the band. “We wrote it in December 2020, one of the first new songs after the New Long Leg session.”

Tour dates for Dry Cleaning’s forthcoming world tour are listed below and tickets are on sale Wednesday, Sept. 14th at 10am local time. There will be a fan pre-sale for anyone signed up to the Dry Cleaning mailing list on Friday, Sept. 9th at 3pm EST.

LISTEN TO “GARY ASHBY”

Having already started writing their second record before New Long Leg was released, Nick Buxton, Tom Dowse, Lewis Maynard and Florence Shaw returned to Rockfield Studios with producer John Parish with the plan to spend twice as much time on the follow-up. Stumpwork is the result, and it is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries. Frontwoman Florence Shaw demonstrated increased spontaneity in the studio, improvising many of her lyrics straight on to the album. The lyrics are almost entirely observational, stemming from sources as varied as a quote from the artist Maggi Hambling, snippets from the press cuttings library of archivist Edda Tasiemka, and more. “I wrote about the things that preoccupied me over this period, like loss, masculinity, feminism, my mum, being separated from my partner for little stretches in the lockdown, lust,” she explains. “There were two murders of women in London that were extensively covered on the news, and the specific details of one of those murders were reported on whilst we were [in the studio]. That coverage influenced some of my writing and my state of mind.”

Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band as well, bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. “It’s of course devastating to lose close family members but their legacy in Dry Cleaning is wholly positive,” says Dowse. “The moments in the songs which are upbeat and joyful made me think of them both the most.” The breadth of influences on Stumpwork is dizzying, a definitive rebuke to those who might reduce Dry Cleaning as a post-punk band. Their music is bolder and more expansive, Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. As Shaw sings on “Kwenchy Kups,” “Things are shit, but they’re gonna be OK.”

LISTEN TO “ANNA CALLS FROM THE ARCTIC”

WATCH THE “DON’T PRESS ME” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER STUMPWORK

DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Sat. Sept. 17 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
Sun. Sept. 18 – Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA
Tue. Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Wed. Sept. 21 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
Thu. Sept. 22 – Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library
Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival
Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City
Wed. Nov. 30 – Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room
Thu. Dec. 1 – Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro
Tue. Dec. 6 – Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork
Wed. Dec. 7 – Wellington, NZ @ San Fran
Fri. Dec. 9 – Brisbane, AU @ The Brightside
Sat. Dec. 10 – Meredith, AU @ Meredith Festival
Mon. Dec. 12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Tue. Dec. 13 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Wed. Dec. 14 – Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar
Fri. Dec. 16 – Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel
Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
Fri. Jan. 13, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Sat. Jan 14, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Thu. Jan. 19, 2023 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Sat. Jan. 21, 2023 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Mon. Jan. 23, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 24, 2023 – Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza
Thu. Jan. 26, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre
Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 – Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre
Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. Feb. 2, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneers Works
Tue. Feb. 14, 2023 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Wed. Feb. 15, 2023 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Fri. Feb. 17, 2023 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy
Mon. Feb. 20, 2023 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Tue. Feb. 21, 2023 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Wed Feb. 22, 2023 – Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy
Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sat. Feb. 25, 2023 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
Sun. Feb. 26, 2023 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Tue. Feb. 28, 2023 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
Wed. March 1, 2023 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Fri. March 3, 2023 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Mon. Mar. 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Wed. Mar. 15, 2023 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand
Thu. Mar. 16, 2023 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
Sat. Mar. 18, 2023 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
Sun. Mar. 19, 2023 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
Mon. Mar. 20, 2023 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. March 22, 2023 – Offenbach, DE @ Hafen2
Thu. Mar. 23, 2023 – Munich, DE @ Strom
Fri. Mar. 24, 2023 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
Fri. Mar. 25, 2023 – Prague, CZ @ Futurum
Mon. Mar. 27, 2023 – Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy
Tue. Mar. 28, 2023 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Fri. Mar. 31, 2023 – Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo
Sat. Apr. 1, 2023 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix

Keep your mind open.

[Like Gary Ashby, you’re missing…from the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Dry Cleaning reach beyond post-punk with “Anna Calls from the Arctic.”

London-based band Dry Cleaning release a new single, “Anna Calls From The Arctic,” off their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. On “Anna Calls From The Arctic,” Florence Shaw narrates an off-kilter conversation with a distant friend. The track is whacked-out and otherworldly. “The lyrics were partly inspired by phone calls with a friend who was living and working in the Arctic,” explain the band. ”The song developed from a keyboard, bass and clarinet jam. This then took shape during our pre-recording sessions with John Parish and Joe Jones in Bristol and finalized at Rockfield studios a month later, with some musical inspiration coming from the dramatic scores of John Barry. The song is observational and sensual.” Today’s visualizer features the band’s drummer, Nick Buxton, displaying perfect form while skating backwards.

LISTEN TO DRY CLEANING’S “ANNA CALLS FROM THE ARCTIC”

Having already started writing their second record before 2021’s acclaimed New Long Leg was released, they proposed to producer John Parish that they spend twice as much time on the follow-up. Listen to the album and you can feel that increased boldness – vocals which coil tightly around deft and complex riffs, great meshes of instrumental texture and the willingness to launch into full-on abstraction. It is a heady mix that is entirely Dry Cleaning’s own, distinguishing it from their contemporaries.

Shaw demonstrated increased spontaneity in the studio, improvising many of her lyrics straight on to the album. The lyrics are almost entirely observational. There is one quote from the artist Maggi Hambling on the woozy title track, text from an old Macintosh computer virus on “Don’t Press Me,” and snippets from the press cuttings library of archivist Edda Tasiemka scattered throughout, but the use of ‘found lyrics’ employed in the band’s early years is now far in the past. “I wrote about the things that preoccupied me over this period, like loss, masculinity, feminism, my mum, being separated from my partner for little stretches in the lockdown, lust,” she continues, preoccupations from which wider political and social commentary emerges. “I think if you make something observational, which I think I do, it’s political,” Shaw says. “There were two murders of women in London that were extensively covered on the news, and the specific details of one of those murders were reported on whilst we were at Rockfield. That coverage influenced some of my writing and my state of mind.” The band’s instrumentation, too, may well reflect our increasingly bleak socio-political landscape, the way it can pick up intense and urgent momentum, or zone out into icy detachment.

The band’s loss of a number of loved family members over the last year would also have an impact on Stumpwork. Among them was bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother Susan, at whose home the band rehearsed in their early days, the location of which inspired the name of their debut EP Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks. On the day that the band appeared on Later With Jools Holland, she was in hospital and unable to receive visitors due to coronavirus restrictions. “It felt special that what we had achieved from the first record, could still entertain her and communicate with her while no one could see her,” says Maynard. New Long Leg was released a week before she passed away, so she was able to see it reach number four in the charts. “The success of the band became a distraction for the whole family while grieving. And it gave even more importance to what we are doing,” Maynard adds.

Stumpwork was made in the aftermath – they were in the studio writing the day before Susan died – but from their grief they found fuel for the record’s most joyous elements. “I see the album as a celebration of what she gave us and a reflection of how fortunate we were to know her,” says Buxton. Guitarist Tom Dowse also lost his grandfather who was extremely proud of the band’s success. “It’s of course devastating to lose close family members but their legacy in Dry Cleaning is wholly positive,” he says. “The moments in the songs which are upbeat and joyful made me think of them both the most.”

The breadth of influences on Stumpwork is dizzying, a definitive rebuke to those who might reduce Dry Cleaning as a post-punk band. Their music is bolder and more expansive, Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. As Shaw sings on “Kwenchy Kups,” “Things are shit, but they’re gonna be OK.”

WATCH THE “DON’T PRESS ME” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER STUMPWORK

DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES
Sun. July 31 – Thirsk, UK @ Deer Shed Festival
Sat. Aug. 6 – Katowic, PL @ OFF Festival
Thu. Aug. 11 – Haldern, DE @ Haldern Pop Festival
Fri. Aug. 19 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival
Thu. Aug. 25 – London, UK @ All Points East
Sat. Aug. 27 – Manchester, UK @ Depot Mayfield w/ The National
Sat. Sept. 17 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Sun. Sept. 18 – Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA
Tue. Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Wed. Sept. 21 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
Thu. Sept. 22 – Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library
Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival
Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Mush – 3D Routine

Post-punk has been thriving the last couple years in the US and the UK. One of the UK bands getting a lot of attention in the genre nowadays is Mush (Nick Grant – bass, Dan Hyndman – vocals, Phil Porter – drums, Tyson Porter – guitar) who combine quirky jamming with sharp spoken word lyrics about work life drudgery, political mockery, and crushing debt left behind by past generations on their debut album 3D Routine.

“Revising My Fee” starts with sharp guitar angles and reminding everyone that practically everyone in Mush’s generation is “always in debt.” Tyson Porter’s solo on it is outstanding. The band punches back at the forces keep them in that debt on “Eat the Etiquette” and then tackles death on “Existential Dread” – a snappy tune (with even snappier drumming by Phil Porter) about shuffling along and avoiding life while approaching death.

I’m guessing “Coronation Chicken” is about the Royal Family, but I could be wrong. I do know that it has a swanky groove to it that I love. “Island Mentality,” like “Eat the Etiquette,” starts with a short instrumental intro, before it kicks into quick post-punk rollicking. “Fruits of the Happening,” apart from having an intriguing title, has another solid intro before Hyndman sings about how, if we’re not vigilant, we can become the product of events around us that are often out of our control.

“Hey Gammon Head” has Tyson Porter’s guitar work bordering on psychedelic rock territory. Hyndman spits his lyrics so fast on the title track that you can barely keep up with him, but Grant’s bass keeps the tune rooted. “Gig Economy” is a frantic take on not only the economics of being in a touring band, but also how everyone is working some sort of side hustle gig just to get by.

“Poverty Pornography” keeps up this theme by throwing down a snarky track about rich folks getting richer and enjoying the fruits of the poor’s labor. “No Signal in the Paddock” has one of the best grooves on the whole record, with the Porter brothers and Grant all working in perfect timing yet still sounding rough and raw. The closer, “Alternative Facts,” is over nine minutes of ranting against those who power who expect us to swallow their bullshit.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Hyndman’s weird vocal delivery. He mixes post-punk sarcasm with punk snot and art rock flair. In other words, he’s perfect for singing in a post-punk band.

This is a routine you’ll enjoy.

Keep your mind open.

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