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.
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.]