Dry Cleaning

From a garage to 4AD

Dry Cleaning formed in South London in 2017, when Tom Dowse and Nick Buxton asked the bassist Lewis Maynard to join a band that began as a hobby, rehearsing in Maynard's mother's garage. Buxton and Maynard had been in the indie band La Shark and Dowse in hardcore bands. Florence Shaw, a visual artist and visiting university lecturer, joined in early 2018 after initial reluctance, and her deadpan spoken delivery, rather than singing, became the band's signature. NME describes the music as post-punk, and Wikipedia notes comparisons to Wire, Magazine and Joy Division.

The EP Sweet Princess came in September 2018, the single "Magic of Meghan" in July 2019 and the EP Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks in October 2019. They signed to 4AD in early 2020, with NME and DIY naming them to their 2020 lists, and a first US tour in March 2020, at Saint Vitus and Union Pool in Brooklyn, was cut short by COVID-19 with the remaining dates, SXSW among them, cancelled. Shaw and Dowse left their lecturing jobs. New Long Leg was recorded at Rockfield in Monmouthshire in July and August 2020 with John Parish, in about two weeks between lockdowns, from demos made on a Tascam cassette Portastudio.

New Long Leg (April 2, 2021) reached number 4 in the UK, their highest, and number 1 on the independent chart. Metacritic scores it 86 from 21 critics; Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes gave 8.6, Mojo 4 stars and Clash 8 of 10, and it topped the year-end lists of The Atlantic and Rough Trade UK. Stumpwork (October 21, 2022), again with Parish, recorded at Rockfield and J&J Studios in Bristol, reached 11, and its artwork by Luke Brooks, James Theseus Buck and Annie Collinge won the Grammy for best recording package in 2024. In 2024 they opened stadium shows for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Secret Love (January 9, 2026), produced by Cate Le Bon, reached 12 and has a Metacritic score of 87. Setlist.fm lists 392 setlists, with 2022 the busiest year at 104.