When I first came across Dry Cleaning's debut album New Long Leg, I was completely enthralled. Their sound is indebted to post-punk aesthetics with Tom Dowse's red hot guitar line that could send you into a frenzy, Lewis Maynard's bass that envelops you in deep unrelenting rhythms, drums by Nick Buxton that often batters you throughout. But it was Florence Shaw's unwavering and defiant vocals that captured my attention the most. While she occasionally lets her voices drift into ethereal tones, Shaw tends to stay fastened into a spoken word cadence that is undeniably alluring. Last week at Thalia Hall all these qualities were on full display for an incredible night.
Opening up the show was YHWH Nailgun and this was a genuine treat. I went in on the band mostly blind besides a few snippets I read about the quartet describing them as "experimental" with an "abrasive sound." While that is not at all wrong, it doesn't really capture how utterly enjoyable and impressive the band's sound can truly be. The instrumentation from drummer Sam Pickard, guitarist Saguiv Rosenstock, and synthesist Jack Tobias clash against each other wonderfully, creating this seamless meld that splatter with Zack Borzone's raw and unbounded vocals. Borzone's stage presence matches his vocals as he thrashes around stage, expunging every bit of energy out of his body and straight into his movements and guttural sound.
The crowd at Thalia Hall was pretty packed from the get-go and by the time Dry Cleaning came to the stage, the sheer anticipation emanating from them was palpable. Given the band's sound hearkens to the earliest eras of post punk evoking the likes of Gang of Four and the Fall, but never beholden to them, it should come as no surprise that their audience is particularly diverse. Young, old, and everyone in between squeezed forward as Dry Cleaning started off with their latest song "Sliced by a Fingernail", which was released on March 30.
Dry Cleaning's latest album, Secret Love, was the star of the evening as the band performed every song on the album, much to everyone's joy. The record is a beautiful display of the band's talents honed to near perfection. The most clear evidence of this is the sort of title track "Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)", a song that came early in the set and isn't an "official" single the band pushed. But the absolute masterful performance that night riled the crowd up with its inviting grooves coupled with Shaw's spoken word breaking into fragile singing in the chorus.
There was very little banter throughout the night, barring Dowse's brief introduction of the band members and a quick comment between "Evil Evil Idiot" and " I Need You" from Shaw: "That song was about burnt food. And this song is a love song…. About love. And that's it." That quick distillation of their work only scratches the surface of Shaw's lyrical depth, which is constantly in the spotlight thanks to her delivery and always rises to the occasion.
As the night began to approach the finish line, Dry Cleaning made sure to squeeze every last bit of their performance out for all to see. "Magic of Meghan" ripped into the night with a ferocity that they touched on a few times that night {particularly during "Don't Press Me"). "Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit" saw local collaborator Bruce Lamont jump in for his part in the song. It all ramped up into the elongated rendition of "Conversation" that let every band member dig into the song. It was such an incredible performance, getting people dancing along to their heart's content, like no one else was in the room other than Dry Cleaning. The encore of "Hit My Head All Day", which came while the sounds of "Conversation" continued to echo through the room, kept the vibe going , letting everyone linger in the live Secret Love for a bit longer.
