The cover of Dry Cleaning‘s new EP, Swampy, is intriguing. It’s an image of broken blinds hanging in a window of some boarded up building. We can see an intersection and some sort of building, possibly a store or a house, across the street in the window’s reflection. It could be anywhere, and the blind could be a reflection of something else. Weariness? Depression? The sagging post-Brexit British economy? Or, it could just be an image as intriguing as Swampy‘s music.
The title track begins the record with almost romantic guitar riffs from Tom Dowse until Lewis Maynard‘s bass comes in an changes the mood to something mysterious. Lead singer Florence Shaw tells a story, as she always does, about, I think, politicians who supported the Brexit, but now regret it and are too afraid to admit it for fear of losing a good chunk of their voting base. “Sombre Two” is indeed somber. Dowse’s guitar sounds like it’s slogging through a manic depressive episode. I don’t know how he gets his guitar to make sounds like this.
The next two tracks are remixes of songs from their newest full-length album, Stumpwork. “Hot Penny Day” (remixed by Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul) becomes a fat synth-bass dance track suitable for all you “disco pickles” with Shaw’s voice being pitch-changed now and then to make her sound like a robot, seductress, and ghost – often all at once. The Nourished By Time remix of “Gary Ashby” has male lead vocals for part of the track, which sound jarring at first after you’ve heard Shaw’s spoken-word vocals for so long. She joins the vocal track soon, however, and then both vocals are pushed a bit back so Dowse’s guitar sounds can becoming a bright, shimmering experience. The EP ends with a demo version of “Peanuts” that has fun percussion from Nick Buxton and lounge-like saxophone and electric piano riffs.
It’s a nice little gem from this band who keeps doing their own thing and waiting for you to catch up to them.
Keep your mind open.
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