After beginning to write new material in the summer of 2024, Dry Cleaning recorded a series of demos, some at Wilco's The Loft in Chicago and Gilla Band's Sonic Studios in Dublin, before deciding on Le Bon to produce. They re-recorded almost everything with her at Black Box Studios in the Loire Valley, France, in mid-2025.
On Secret Love, the band continue to expand upon the post-punk style that defined their earlier work, and Florence Shaw's otherwise spoken word delivery increasingly relies on sung vocals. So far, the album has been preceded by four singles.
With their new album, Secret Love, the band pivot from working with producer John Parish, joining forces with Cate Le Bon. Lewis Maynard on bass and Nick Buxton on drums meld reliably, forging thickish foundations. Guitarist Tom Dowse is at once anchored in the rhythmic and melodically nomadic. Shaw weaves spoken-word tapestries that are at once meta-biographical and socio-politically relevant. Also, while she and the band have always navigated a loose relationship, her poise and the band’s more heated stance yielding fertile contrasts, here she and the band vacillate between hit-and-miss alignments and a curious incongruence. Tracks land as abstractly and intriguing.
The album opener "Hit My Head All Day" that has been described as reminiscent of David Bowie during his Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) phase, with Robert Fripp-adjacent guitar parts, the lead singer explores how our identities are tied to marketing campaigns and longstanding capitalistic strategies. “I simply must have experiences” is expressed ambivalently: on one hand, there’s an epicurean eagerness to sample life’s many flavors; on the other hand, there’s the inability to be still, quiet, unstimulated. The band erect an energized backdrop, driven by Maynard’s bouncy bass and Dowse’s lo-fi-ish/riffy guitar. Following "Cruise Ship Designer" considers this phenomenon more specifically. Buoyed by the band's/Le Bon's upbeat and textural mix, Shaw oozes exhaustion, suggesting that the human trajectory is defined less by choice or intention and more by genetic, social, and economic forces beyond our control. "My Soul / Half Pint" spotlights Dowse's wiry guitar runs and the band’s agile leaps between verses and bridges while Shaw declares, "I'm a woman and I think if I clean then I … / I feel resentment in my soul". Then on the title track "Secret Love (Concealed In A Drawing For A Boy)" Shaw tells a love story where the narrator's romantic feelings are expressed in an object
Next on "Let Me Grow and You'll See the Fruit" references fears re: loss of privacy and the dumbing-down of the Western world, but falls short of conveying urgency. It is a story of isolation wherein the protagonist first expresses their joy at finally achieving solitude, later to feel ultimately lonely and alienated. "Blood" begins with a guitar riff influenced by Johnny Marr, then continues with a consistent kick drum. The character in the song, initially critical of war and capitalistic elites who take advantage of the system, becomes so inundated by the constant online barrage of violence from global conflicts that blood manifests itself on them. "Evil Evil Idiot" is a slow-burn rock piece that starts sparingly until Dowse joins the rest of the band with a guitar riff. The song focuses on the life of a wellness influencer who extols harmful advice about processed meat and microwaved meals. "Rocks" is the heaviest track on Secret Love, featuring noisy guitars and industrial snare drums and providing a contrast with Shaw's comparatively muted performance.
On the familially-themed "The Cute Things", the band return to a Rolling Stones-influenced sound borrowing elements of Americana music and ending with a guitar solo from Dowse. In a mood shift, the slow, penultimate track "I Need You" centers itself on bass clarinet (played by Stephen Black) and synthesised drones. The song features lyrics of romantic longing, symbolised via a box of talcum powder. It also refers to the television show The Apprentice, which Shaw has clarified is about the UK version with Alan Sugar, something she perceives as relatively harmless in comparison to the U.S. version. Finally on "Joy", Shaw states her optimistic desire to create a world without violence and free from toxic masculinity, Dowse's guitar playing on the closer was influenced by the "guitar-pop sound" of Guided by Voices.
In resume, the band's new album Secret Love has been described broadly as a post-punk record.However, the album sees the quartet continue the expansive musical trajectory. Also, while vocalist Florence Shaw still heavily relies on a spoken word approach, they saw a shift toward a sung delivery, particularly on the choruses. During recording, Le Bon encouraged her to sing when the lyrics were more emotionally-driven.
The album's cover artwork was painted by the Scotland-based Canadian artist Erica Eyres. It depicts the band's singer Florence Shaw having her eye washed by someone largely out of frame, holding Shaw's eyelid open. According to Shaw, Eyres did all of the artwork, including the drawn covers for the album's singles. Elaborating further, she stated in a Reddit AMA: "I was a huge fan of [Eyres'] work. We gave her free reign pretty much, apart from saying we wanted to be in the paintings. We sent her the album and chatted through the themes and such. And she went away and did a whole host of things. She was keen on first aid imagery straight off the bat."
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