After breaking out on the strength of one of 2021’s best albums—their electric full-length debut New Long Leg—London’s Dry Cleaning are back to make their mark on 2022. The four-piece have announced their second record Stumpwork, coming Oct. 21 on 4AD, and released the video for its lead single, “Don’t Press Me.”
After New Long Leg was met with universal acclaim, a newly confident Dry Cleaning—that is, Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals)—didn’t fix what wasn’t broken. They returned to rural Wales and reunited with their trusted team of producer John Parish and engineer Joe Jones to record their LP2 (and play some table tennis, too) over an extended period in the studio. The resulting record combines “a sensitivity now to the themes of family, money, politics, self-deprecation and sensuality” with “furious indie-pop […] psych and prog influences,” a press release explains.
“Don’t Press Me” is an exciting first preview of Stumpwork, with enough sonic similarity to the band’s New Long Leg era to feel familiar, as well as subtle signs of Dry Cleaning pushing boundaries. The quartet wield a crunchy guitar-rock groove, with Dowse’s guitar, Maynard’s bass and Buxton’s drums in a tense lockstep alongside Shaw’s signature Sprechesang. “Just don’t touch my gaming mouse,” she commands in the verses, only to take a more conciliatory tack in the chorus, crooning (!) “Don’t press me” over keys and whistles, as if pleading for relief—wrenching the blood of pathos from a stone of deadpanned non sequiturs. She repeats this feat only once, as the space where the song’s second chorus should go is occupied instead by a washed-out Dowse solo, all the more satisfying for being so unexpected. All this takes place in the span of less than two minutes, Exhibit A in support of Dry Cleaning’s newfound self-assurance.
“The words in the chorus came about because I was trying to write a song to sing to my own brain,” Shaw explains in a statement. “‘You are always fighting me / You are always stressing me out.’”
“Don’t Press Me” is accompanied by a hand-drawn, animated video by Peter Millard, and is Dry Cleaning’s first new material since the July 2021 release of two songs from the New Long Leg sessions, “Bug Eggs” b/w “Tony Speaks!”
“There’s nothing quite like the thrill of new music,” Buxton told Paste of Dry Cleaning’s then-in-progress LP2 last April, when we hailed the band as The Best of What’s Next.
Watch the “Don’t Press Me” video below, and find the details of Stumpwork and Dry Cleaning’s tour dates further down.
Stumpwork Art:
Stumpwork Tracklist:
01. Anna Calls From The Arctic
02. Kwenchy Kups
03. Gary Ashby
04. Driver’s Story
05. Hot Penny Day
06. Stumpwork
07. No Decent Shoes For Rain
08. Don’t Press Me
09. Conservative Hell
10. Liberty Log
11. Icebergs
Dry Cleaning Tour Dates:
June
16 – Edinburgh, UK @ Hidden Door Festival
17 – York, UK @ Castle Howard w/ Duran Duran
18 – Helsinki, FI @ Sideways Festival
21 – Zagreb, HR @ INmusic Festival
24 – Pilton, UK @ Glastonbury Festival
July
02 – Ewijk, NL @ Down The Rabbit Hole
03 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
09 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
10 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
11 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
12 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
14 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
15 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
16 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
23 – Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade (in-store)
24 – Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling
29 – Co Waterford, IE @ All Together Now
31 – Thirsk, UK @ Deer Shed Festival
August
Sat. Aug. 6 – Katowic, PL @ OFF Festival
Thu. Aug. 11 – Haldern, DE @ Haldern Pop Festival
Fri. Aug. 19 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival
Thu. Aug. 25 – London, UK @ All Points East
Sat. Aug. 27 – Manchester, UK @ Dept Mayfield w/ The National
September
18 – Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA
November
11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival
