On 9th January 2026, Dry Cleaning will return with Secret Love, the group’s third studio album, produced by Cate Le Bon.
+ Pre-order from the 4AD Store on limited Apricot LP, standard black LP, CD and cassette here +
LP purchases will receive a free signed photo print whilst stocks last
+ For 48 hours only, you can also pre-order a hand-numbered white label pressing of the album exclusively via 4AD +
+ Small quantity of Japanese CDs available via Bandcamp here +
+ Pre-save on all digital platforms here +
Album artwork by Erica Eyres
The record will be available digitally, on CD, cassette, black LP, limited edition Apricot LP (4AD store, band webstore, and indie retail version) and Pearl/Arctic LP (Rough Trade exclusive). An exclusive run of hand-numbered Secret Love white labels are available to order for 48 hours only via the 4AD store, and a small quantity of Japanese CD’s will be available exclusively on Bandcamp. A limited number of signed photo prints will also be available via the 4AD and selected indie stores.
All pre-orders before 5pm UK on Tuesday 30th September will recieve a code for early access to buy tickets to the band’s headline show at O2 Academy Brixton, with the pre-sale beginning on Wednesday 1st October at 10am UK.
Today the band release new single ‘Hit My Head All Day’, with the accompanying visualiser featuring movement by choreographer dance duo BULLYACHE.
+ Stream ‘Hit My Head All Day’ on all streaming services here +
Secret Love is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships that created Dry Cleaning, between frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard. Here, the south London four-piece take their place in rock’s avant garde, catalysing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins.
The follow-up to Stumpwork started life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, all four members writing, playing and responding to each other in the room: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio the Loft and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, taking advantage of the sensory particulars of each space, and finally with Cate Le Bon at Black Box in the Loire Valley. After interviewing various potential producers, they picked Cate – an esteemed solo artist who has also made albums for Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Wilco and Horsegirl – for her unabashed positivity and openness. “Being in a room with them and hearing that vitality and life force that exists between them all, it’s such a unique expression,” she says.
Trust is Secret Love’s guiding theme, as signified by compulsively catchy ‘Hit My Head All Day’ which opens the album. Powered by pistons of breathy synths and cresting arcs of guitar, Florence’s signature mix of absurdism and sensitivity, “The song is about manipulation of the body and mind. The lyrics were initially inspired by the use of misinformation on social media by the far right. There are powerful people that seek to influence our behaviour for their own gain; to buy certain things, to vote a certain way. I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust, even in everyday life. It’s easy to fall under the influence of a sinister stranger who seems like a friend.”
“We took a playful approach to the song. At one point it had harmonica on it instead of a vocal. At the demo stage we were inspired by ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’ by Sly and the Family Stone.”
Dry Cleaning – Secret Love
4AD0868
1. Hit My Head All Day
2. Cruise Ship Designer
3. My Soul / Half Pint
4. Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)
5. Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit
6. Blood
7. Evil Evil Idiot
8. Rocks
9. The Cute Things
10.I Need You
11. Joy
To celebrate the release of Secret Love Dry Cleaning will play their biggest headline show of their career at London’s O2 Brixton Academy on 22nd April 2026. Tickets go on general sale on Friday 3rd October, with a pre-sale beginning on Wednesday 1st October. The latter is available to all those who pre-order Secret Love by 5pm on 30th September. For more information head here.
Dry Cleaning play a special album announcement show at Brooklyn’s Warsaw this Thursday, before a run of European shows and UK festival appearances before the end of the year. All dates below, and details available here.
October
2nd – Warsaw, Brooklyn NY, US
11th – Planet Dom Festival, Split, Croatia
23rd – Barceló Theatre, Madrid, Spain
24th – Loco Club, Valencia, Spain
25th – Paral.lel 62, Barcelona, Spain
November
7th – Mutations Festival, Brighton, UK
8th – Simple Things Festival, Bristol, UK
January 2026
3rd – Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis, UK
April
22nd – O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK
