Stumpwork accentuates the hyper-observational properties of Dry Cleaning’s artful post-punk. It’s also an effort fitting for the times since the South London band’s breakthrough debut LP last year, New Long Leg, served as a welcomely witted, unnerved listen during the downturns of the pandemic era in music. The four-piece peers even further into the self-referential as well, focusing on shifting relationships, grief, and – thanks to Florence Shaw’s microscopic eye on the mundane – making the everyday occurrence witnessed a tale of fascination. Stumpwork bends the sharper angles of its predecessor into a brain stew to compliment the deeper thinks, however, with the listen progressively increasing into a shuffling jazz and churning jam where linearity falls by the wayside of the rabbit hole. Still, there’s a certain laughter poking its way out from Dry Cleaning’s dark…

Highlights: “Anna Calls From the Arctic”, “Gary Ashby”, “Icebergs”

Dry Cleaning’s Stumpwork is available now on 4AD.

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