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\n\tThere\u2019s nothing quite like pressing play on a new release from Dry Cleaning<\/a> \u2014 or better yet, walking into one of their shows. On any given song, you might hear the English band skipping dexterously through post-punk, dub, funk, jangle, goth, post-rock, or something else, with three wizards on their instruments grooving away in lockstep. At the center of it all, vocalist Florence Shaw delivers an endless spoken-word monologue that sounds like it\u2019s coming from another planet entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a delightfully odd combination that brought in excellent reviews for their 2021 debut, New Long Leg<\/em><\/a>, and their 2022 follow-up, Stumpwork<\/em><\/a> (whose cover art won them a Grammy for Best Recording Package). But by this time last year, they were looking to shake things up on their next album. So they tried auditioning new producers. It didn\u2019t go very well at first.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe had some producers who, over Zoom, would be showing us their systems, like, \u2018I\u2019ve got two Distressors<\/a>\u2026\u2019 and not talking about the songs we\u2019d sent them,\u201d says bassist Lewis Maynard. \u201cWe were quite lost. For a period of time, we spoke about producing it ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat goes to show just how lost we were,\u201d Shaw notes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd then my dog was going to produce it, at some point,\u201d Maynard adds.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe\u2019s got two Distressors as well,\u201d jokes drummer Nick Buxton.<\/p>\n \n\tShaw, Maynard, Buxton, and guitarist Tom Dowse have logged onto Zoom from their respective flats in South London to talk about their third album, Secret Love<\/em>, out Jan. 9 on 4AD. Coming more than three years after Stumpwork<\/em>, it\u2019s the best Dry Cleaning album yet, full of intriguing left turns and surprising new swerves that more than justify the months of studio exploration it took to get there.<\/p>\n