Dry Cleaning bassist Lewis Maynard helps introduce the band’s latest, Secret Love released on 4AD last week, on album opener “Hit My Head All Day” and if you’re anything like me when it comes to groove, you’ll also find it successfully groovy.
Similar to Wet Leg’s Moisturizer, Secret Love has the distinct sound and feel of a band hitting its stride where style and chops coalesce into a seamless and convincing sound.
[That was me trying to write like a music reviewer and while I stand by those words, that kind of writing kinda bugs me for its superior tone as if the critic puts the work in its proper place when the fact of the matter is the experience of listening to music or looking at art or reading a poem is, ideally, a union between the work and the person consuming it where one size never fits all. Anyhoo…]
Secret Love is pure joy from beginning to end and part of my joy comes from the style, here assisted by Cate le Bon as producer (and I think I can hear her influence), with lyrics presented by the ever dry droll yet compelling Florence Shaw. Guitarist Tom Dowse reminds me in some ways of Roland S. Howard which I offer as a big compliment as his 6-string voice is equal to Shaw’s when it comes to moving these songs and their jangly angled moods along while drummer Nick Buxton’s nearly free jazz timing ties the bow tight.
I’ll let the lyrics from album closer “Joy” have the last word:
It’s a horrorland
Destruction
Don’t give up on being sweet
Joy