New Long Leg is the debut album from Dry Cleaning, the South London group of
Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw
(vocals).
The 10-track long-player, which includes ‘Strong Feelings’ and last
year’s single ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’, was recorded over two weeks at
Rockfield Studios in rural Wales with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous
Harding). Following on from their thrillingly taut 2019 EPs Boundary Road
Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess, New Long Leg is more ambitious and
complex, with Shaw’s spoken vocals tightly intertwined with the
band’s restless instrumentals.
With lyrics preoccupied by themes like dissociation, escapism, daydreaming,
complicated feelings of love, anger, revenge, anxiety, the kitchen, lethargy,
forgetfulness, and survival, Shaw says, “the title is ambiguous; a new long
leg could be an expensive present or a growth or a table repair.”