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\ / p r e s e n t s .. .:. ... \ /
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Artist......: Dry Cleaning
Album.......: New Long Leg
Label.......: 4AD
Genre.......: Rock
Catnr.......: 4AD0254CD
Source......: CD
Rip.date....: 2021-05-16
Str.date....: 2021-04-02
Quality.....: 925kbps / 44.1kHz / 2 channels
Url.........: http://www.drycleaningband.com
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\ / # title time \ /
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1. Scratchcard Lanyard 4:07
2. Unsmart Lady 3:02
3. Strong Feelings 4:04
4. Leafy 3:08
5. Her Hippo 4:38
6. New Long Leg 4:12
7. John Wick 3:26
8. More Big Birds 4:07
9. A.L.C 3:09
10. Every Day Carry 7:39
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\ / ________ Runtime 41:32
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 288.70______
:\/ ', \ / , \ /
' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /.
: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: The London art-rockers' outstanding debut is a droll album full :,
: of surreal images, bizarre obsessions, and sense memories. The :
:' cumulative effect of Florence Shaw's narration is inexplicably ':
,: wonderful. Jillian Mapes (Pitchfork) reviews: :,
: :
:' In the video for "Scratchcard Lanyard," Dry Cleaning vocalist ':
,: Florence Shaw is a floating head in the world's smallest dive :,
: bar. Her face takes up the whole stage, a perch from which she :
:' eyes the tiny puppet DJ and the tiny puppet bartender with mild ':
,: disgust and confusion. She delivers a dry monologue in a wan, :,
: extremely British tone, subtly arching her eyebrows for :
:' emphasis. The whole affair carries an air of suspicion, with ':
,: the slightest hint of deer in the headlights. The shot zooms :,
: out, and there's the full band playing animatedly beside her; :
:' zoom in again, and it's the Flo show. It's a clever video, one ':
,: that nods to the isolation of the pandemic, the media's tendency :,
: to focus on the girl in the band, and of course, Shaw's :
:' restrained performance style. "Do everything and feel nothing," ':
,: she intones, barely moving. :,
: :
:' How does someone so static become the lead singer of a noisy ':
,: rock band? The better question is, how do you deny the strange, :,
: funny charisma of someone like Florence Shaw? Just hearing her :
:' thoughts, expressed in the tone of a slightly sardonic ':
,: narrator, was enough for her former art school friend Tom Dowse :,
: to suggest she join his new band back in 2017. Shaw, a visual :
:' artist more than a musician, was hesitant, but she was assured ':
,: she could just talk instead of sing. Largely through the :,
: specificity of her affect and observations on the world, the :
:' band's debut album arrives fully formed, ready to evacuate the ':
,: contents of your brain and replace them with the odd images, :,
: bizarre obsessions, vivid sense memories, and banal judgements :
:' that live rent-free in the mind of another. ':
,: :,
: The Sherlock Holmes Museum of break-ups, a dentist with a messy :
:' back garden, a cab driver sucking on Pop Rocks, llama plushies ':
,: in a shop, a big jar of mayonnaise in the back of the fridge, a :,
: critique of format changes to Antiques Roadshow, a Tokyo bouncy :
:' ball, an Oslo bouncy ball, a Rio de Janeiro bouncy ball - these ':
,: are all things you will encounter while navigating the world of :,
: New Long Leg. You could throw a competition for Shaw's best :
:' non-sequiturs, food category (the winner: "I've been thinking ':
,: about eating that hot dog for hours," from "Strong Feelings"). :,
: The cumulative effect of these lines is surreally welcoming, :
:' especially when interspersed with dramatically phrased maxims ':
,: like, "Never talk about your ex, never never never never, never :,
: slag them off because then they know." :
:' ':
,: Compared to Dry Cleaning's scrappier EPs, 2019's Sweet Princess :,
: and Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks, the album's production and :
:' mix are exquisitely calibrated for maximum effect. Helmed by ':
,: John Parish, who's produced everyone from PJ Harvey to Aldous :,
: Harding, New Long Leg is like a striking black and white :
:' photograph with the contrast turned up. Guitarist Dowse, ':
,: bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton have always :,
: worked as a strong foil to Shaw - moody riffs and sludgy bass on :
:' loop, the steady pulse and flash of chaos to her disarming ':
,: apathy - but in this picture the vocalist now appears even :,
: sharper. :
:' ':
,: The band, in turn, sounds more adventurous - darker and dubbier :,
: at times, but also fizzy with touches of indie-pop synths and :
:' guitar jangle. When Dry Cleaning first surfaced, they were ':
,: variously described as post-punk in the vein of Magazine, Wire, :,
: and the Fall. Haters left YouTube comments calling them a Sonic :
:' Youth rip-off. A broad notion of "London post-punk having a ':
,: moment" started to take hold among outsiders, lumping the band :,
: in with the freakier, more freeform likes of black midi and :
:' Black Country, New Road. On New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning emerge ':
,: as a Rorschach test for listeners' guitar revivalism of choice. :,
: There are echoes of Black Sabbath, the Smiths, the Strokes, even :
:' Wilco on the closest thing to a ballad, "More Big Birds." But ':
,: it amounts to something tougher and more original than merely :,
: the sum of classically cool influences - a sound that activates :
:' Shaw's disparate imagery, making the setting seem more ':
,: dangerous. :,
: :
:' The phrase "emo dead stuff collector," from "Strong Feelings," ':
,: could define Shaw's songwriting approach - a personal archive of :,
: online comments, eavesdropped conversations, writing exercises, :
:' and her own reflections - but her lyrics aren't just random ':
,: clusters of phrases. She operates in media res, dropping you in :,
: on an unknown character, flipping the perspective or dreaming :
:' herself into a new headspace mid-song, decontextualizing and ':
,: recontextualizing everything she uses. Take "Scratchcard :,
: Lanyard," told from the perspective of a mother on the edge, a :
:' premise that is not necessarily intuitive but indelibly ':
,: expressed nonetheless. "I think of myself as a hardy banana with :,
: that waxy surface and the small delicate flowers/A woman in :
:' aviators firing a bazooka," Shaw coolly declares, like a woman ':
,: in aviators firing a bazooka should. :,
: :
:' Still, some of the more inscrutable moments are the funniest ':
,: and most beguiling. I keep thinking of the second verse in the :,
: title track, where Shaw is asking questions about doing laundry :
:' on a ship, and she cheekily blurts out a joke she realizes is ':
,: dumb the minute it escapes her lips: "Are there some kind of :,
: reverse platforms, shoes that make you go into the ground more, :
:' make you reach a lower level?" What are the possible ':
,: circumstances? Has she won a free trip on a luxury ocean liner? :,
: How would reverse platform shoes even work? And what is a record :
:' that sparks these kinds of absurd questions even trying to say? ':
,: Is it secret code? :,
: :
:' By Shaw's estimation, the lyrics and their juxtapositions are ':
,: an attempt to express her worldview. The cut-up technique of the :,
: Beat Generation (and maybe a dash of Kid A-era Thom Yorke) is :
:' reimagined for the logged-on and attention-addled, those less ':
,: interested in codifying their confessions than finding clarity :,
: amid cultural debris. On headphones, there's something almost :
:' ASMR-like about it, and not strictly in the textural way of ':
,: recent pop production: Shaw is right in your ear, not with a :,
: flummoxing sound clip but a picture you've never seen - the :
:' photographer looking at the literal junk in the margins, rather ':
,: than the hero at the center, and locating a deeper truth. Unlike :,
: the distant cool of Kim Gordon's songs with Sonic Youth, Shaw :
:' appears intimate and almost mystical, like she's guiding a ':
,: meditation class through the detritus of the mind. :,
: :
:' The act of pressing the listener to connect the contextual dots ':
,: from a random hippo to oven chips to a song called "John Wick" :,
: that has little to do with John Wick - even if there's no right :
:' answer at all - is a rare kind of musical storytelling. And ':
,: it's one that actually benefits from the fact that Shaw doesn't :,
: sing. After a year stuck in our own houses and brains, the :
:' comfort of a record like New Long Leg is in its challenging ':
,: sense of escape. Half the time I have no idea what she's even :,
: talking about, but that only makes me want to move closer to it. :
:' ':
: '
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\ / \ /
\ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ /
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\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
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\ / H O U N D \ /
\/ 2 0 2 1 \/