Stumpwork

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ドライ・クリーニング最新作発売決定!!

デビュー作がいきなり全英4位を獲得し、2021年ラフトレード年間ベスト1位にも選出された人気バンド、ドライ・クリーニングが待望のセカンド・アルバムをリリース!!
再び名匠ジョン・パリッシュをプロデューサーに迎え、前作と同じウェールズの田舎のスタジオでレコーディングされた本作は、家族、金、政治、自虐、官能といったテーマに対する感受性を高めたシュールな歌詞、そして作品全体に渡り、激しいオルタナ・ロックのアンセムがジャングル・ポップやアンビエント・ノイズと融合し、バンドが受けてきた影響の豊かさと彼らの音楽に対する深い造詣として表れた全11曲を収録。
USニューウェーヴ～オルタナからの影響をミニマルなポスト・パンク・サウンドで再生するバンド・サウンドとヴォーカルのフローレンス・ショウによるスポークンワード～シュプレヒゲザングを合わせたスタイルはさらなる進化を遂げている。

Dry Cleanings early EPs and debut album New Long Leg immediately announced them as one of the more distinctive and exciting bands of the 2020s. They still are on Stumpwork, but this time, they challenge themselves not to rely on what made them standouts. Working once again with producer John Parish at the studio where they recorded New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning make some slight but successful tweaks to their approach. The contrast between Florence Shaws hushed monologues and the cacophony surrounding her illustrated New Long Legs fractured stories and character studies perfectly, but on Stumpwork, the rest of the band meets Shaw on her level. Aside from the occasional outburst like "Dont Press Me" -- a song Shaw wrote about her brain thats punctuated by jagged guitars and handclaps -- Dry Cleaning leaves straight-ahead rock behind in favor of calmer but more colorful sounds. The slower pace they take adds more purpose and heightens the strangeness of songs such as "Liberty Log." A foggy shamble held together by Lewis Maynards rolling bass and embellished with Tom Dowses Pavement-like guitar skronk, it turns the observation "its a weird premise for a show, but I like it" into a hook and ends with Shaw deconstructing the titular phrase until it no longer resembles language. Just as New Long Leg expanded the palette they set forth on Sweet Princess and Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks, Stumpworks varied styles reflect Dry Cleanings growing confidence. "Kwenchy Kups," a chatty account of planning a trip to the water park, commits to the lushly bittersweet jangle they flirted with on their debut album; the self-explanatory "Conservative Hell" juxtaposes real-life dystopia ("theyre trying to mythologize everything") with dream pop tremolos. The band pushes themselves further on the standout "Hot Penny Day," where funky bass, a vaguely Eastern-sounding keyboard melody, and saxophone sleaze mirror the heady menace of Shaws meditations on exposed wires, male violence, and financial ruin. Stumpworks spacious approach allows her more room for nuance: Shes hopeful on the Virginia Wing-esque "Anna Calls from the Arctic," connecting thoughts about the state of the world and gym shorts as easily as she talks to a friend continents away. On "Gary Ashby," she memorializes a lost family pet, breaking into offhanded singing thats as disarming as when other vocalists adopt spoken word. She uses her way of circling around feelings with precise aim on "No Decent Shoes for Rain," capturing how grief can pop up out of nowhere by couching confessions ("My poor heart is breaking/Too big for a large") in non sequiturs and conversational gaps; when she intones "rah, rah, rah" as the song draws to a close, its both genuine and ironic. Hearing Dry Cleanings words and music travel in different ways to the same destination remains fascinating, and the ways they open up their music on Stumpwork with warmth, sensuality, and humor reveal their originality even more fully. ~ Heather Phares