NEW LONG LEG

New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning.

—

It's post-punk art-rock. It's likely my album of the year for 2021. (The album to knock it off it's perch would have to be perfect.) This is an absolutely stunning piece of art. The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts, and that is saying something because each individual track shines so bright. 

—

SIDE A

Track 1 > "Scratchcard Lanyard"
Out of the gate, it's a post-punk kick to the head; a concert to which we are all invited. "It's a Tokyo bouncy ball, it's an Oslo bouncy ball, it's a Rio de Janeiro bouncy ball..." Get your lighter and/or cell phone flash light in the air. This track sets the tone and let's us know it's going to be a wild and welcome ride!

Track 2 > "Unsmart Lady"
A garbled noise intro leads into a more perfect marriage of lyrics/vocal delivery and instrumentation. Driving bass and drums meets jangly guitar and surreal spoken word.

Track 3 > "Strong Feelings"
Get the club dancing with this track! Keep the vibe going. Warm, welcoming instrumentation meets slightly obtuse lyrics, yet it all absolutely works. And every so often the main melody is punctuated by "nostalgic"/"lightly melancholy" guitar noodling. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Track 4 > "Leafy"
A companion piece to "Strong Feelings?" Perhaps. Almost the same feeling as the prior track, except there is almost a weird Muzak-meets-Hippy energy about it.

Track 5 > "Her Hippo"
This track leans into the melancholy a bit more. Some shoe gazing is definitely going on here. And when I really pay attention there is some bending of the guitar strings going on (or whammy bar or pedal manipulation or all of the above), which is why I love this album. These little details pop up and ask to be noticed and then fade into the background once more.

—

The reason I purchased the album was because of these five tracks, as well as "Viking Hair" and "Magic of Meghan" from their first two EPs. I had heard these tracks as part of various live performances I found online—KEXP, BBC, and the like. Side A provided some familiarity and worked really well together, almost as though an EP in its own right.

So then it was onto Side B, having heard none of the tracks prior to buying the album.

—

SIDE B

Track 6 > "New Long Leg"
There's a "singing quality" to Florence's voice here that is definitely a bit distinct/different from the spoken word delivery songs of Side A. "Doo doo doo doo." And a brightness to the music. An almost "Asian leaning" at times in the structure of the song and the sound of the guitar.

Track 7 > "John Wick"
This reminds me a bit of early 1980s post-punk. Joy Division. (Or perhaps Portishead's version of Joy Division? Anyway, I like it a lot.) There is a beautiful section in the middle of the song where the drums and guitar drop out, leaving only a light bass line and vocals. Then it all builds again. I'm thinking this track must be dabbling in minor chords. (But what do I know?)

Track 8 > "More Big Birds"
Mellow, slow, almost plodding (but not quite). Another "Asian feeling" track. Florence's "near scatting" is very welcome. Beautiful.

Track 9 > "A. L. C."
This is a brooding "noir-ish" number. Almost on the verge of not fitting in with the rest of the album. Except that is exactly why it works! Plus it is the perfect lead-in for...

Track 10 > "Every Day Carry"
The slow-build jam. The stoned-out-of-your-mind space jam. The whirling dervish psychedelic jam. THEN everything shifts into catastrophic-disaster-of-the-spaceship alarm meets baby pterodactyl screams—all interpreted through whale song. THEN we are back in the build, not where we left off, but rather at the point where the "build" would have been if it had been going on behind the "alarm break" the whole time. And THEN it simply ends. Brilliant, brilliant track! My favorite of the album.

—

In the same way that Darkstar's Civic Jams haunted me in 2020 (and still does), Dry Cleaning's New Long Leg is doing the same for 2021. The two albums may be different musically, but they share a mood and lyrics that are best engaged as the fragments and snippets that one can decipher and/or comprehend. I appreciate the ability of both bands to navigate the chaos and turmoil of the current age, push back against it with some of their own quirky take on the same, transform it again, and yet ultimately leave enough that is familiar that we do find something recognizable and inviting—whether that would be on the dance floor (or in one's own bedroom) or next to the stage of the club (or in one's own living room).