New Music: Dry Cleaning

Meet the London post-punks embracing the surreal.

Ticketmaster New Music is a carefully curated selection, showcasing artists we are expecting to make waves in the live music scene. Working closely with record labels, live event promoters and talent agents, our in-house experts handpick the most exciting emerging music.

Longtime friends Lewis Maynard, Tom Dowse, Florence Shaw and Nick Bunton, collectively known as Dry Cleaning, have been making an impact on the UK’s live scene since their formation in 2017, selling out venues across London and beyond with their poker-faced post-punk tunes.

One of the most immediately captivating things about the London quartet is their penchant for burying deeper meaning in their seemingly innocuous lyrics, inviting listeners to emotionally invest in the band, scratch beneath the surface and draw their own conclusions as to what they’re writing about.

For instance, the band’s debut single Magic Of Meghan may seem like a wistful musical tribute to Meghan Markle, but with its cut and paste lyrics taken from headlines and comments written about the Duchess of Sussex, the tune highlights the jabs that females, both famous and non-famous, face in daily in the media.

Dry Cleaning - Magic of Meghan (Official Video)

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The BBC Radio 6 Music playlisted track is a standout moment from the band’s terrific debut EP Sweet Princess, with both garnering praise from publications such as Pitchfork, NME and Clash.

The band’s lyrics are delivered expertly in spoken voice style by singer Florence Shaw – who previous to Dry Cleaning has no prior musical experience – and layered over grizzly guitars they often contain more twists than a rollercoaster.

Shaw’s lyrics indulge in unpredictability and often wander from the thought-provoking to the bizarre in a matter of moments. Within seconds of their track Midnight, Shaw flips from mourning the loss of her elderly cat to discussing staining a Travelodge carpet.

The band released their second EP – Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks – at the tail end of last year with breakup anthem Sit Down Meal and observationalist Viking Hair leading the charge.

The new EP earned the band further critical acclaim, with DIY, in particular, praising the “quartet’s sardonic take on modern life” in a four-star review.

In celebration of Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks, the band head out on their biggest headline tour to date throughout February and March 2020 which concludes with what’s sure to be a landmark gig at London’s Village Underground.