London art-rock quartet Dry Cleaning have announced their fourth album Secret Love, due January 9, 2026 via 4AD, alongside the release of its lead single “Hit My Head All Day.” The album follows 2023’s acclaimed Stumpwork and marks a bold step further into avant-garde territory. Pre-order here.
Recorded across sessions in Chicago’s The Loft with Jeff Tweedy, in Dublin with Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox of Gilla Band, and finally in the Loire Valley with producer Cate Le Bon, Secret Love evolved through a collaborative process that foregrounds trust and creative vulnerability. Le Bon, chosen for her openness and positivity, described the band’s chemistry as “a unique expression, full of vitality and life force.”
The new single “Hit My Head All Day” is a compulsively catchy opener powered by breathy synths, sharp guitars, and Florence Shaw’s deadpan delivery. Her lyrics explore manipulation and misinformation — how the far right, corporations, and “sinister strangers” bend perception for control. The track is both playful and unsettling, at one point featuring harmonica in demo form before transforming into its final version. The visualizer, created with dance duo BULLYACHE, adds a layer of movement-driven absurdism to the track. Watch here.
Where Stumpwork felt sprawling and exploratory, Secret Love is sharper, stranger, and more confident. The tracklist hints at absurdist poetry (“Evil Evil Idiot”), surreal imagery (“Cruise Ship Designer”), and deeply personal reflection (“Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit”). Florence’s mix of absurdism and sensitivity places her firmly in a lineage stretching from Laurie Anderson to Sue Tompkins, while the band’s arrangements bring in echoes of early U.S. punk, no wave, stoner rock, and pastoral folk picking.
Dry Cleaning Tour Dates
Thu. Oct. 2 – New York, NY, Warsaw
Sat. Oct. 11 – Split, HR, Planet Dom Festival
Thu. Oct. 23 – Madrid, ES @ Barceló Theatre
Fri. Oct. 24 – Valencia, ES @ Loco Club
Sat. Oct. 25 – Barcelona, ES @ Paral.lel 62
Fri. Nov. 7 – Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
Sat. Nov. 8 – Bristol, UK @ Simple Things Festival
Sat. Jan. 3 – Bognor Regis, UK @ Rockaway Beach Festival
Wed. Apr. 22 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton