Dry Cleaning have released brand new single ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’. The track, the bands first since signing to legendary indie label 4AD, marks their first output since the ‘Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks’ EP in 2019.
‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ begins with a robotic elevator music-esque drum pattern, before the introduction of an insatiably catchy monotone vocal delivery that rides over the crest of repetition. Like a poet gone mad amongst the post-punk soundtrack, vocalist Florence Shaw delivers perfectly nonsensical lines that include a well geographically travelled bouncy ball, trying to “put yourself out there” by way of learning to dance, knit and make ceramic shoes, all whilst eating an old sandwich from your bag as a form of self preservation.
Explaining the tracks origins the band say: “In the search for your true calling in life, it’s easy to try so many things that you end up confused. It can lead to an enormous build-up of frustration. You may fantasise about exacting revenge upon your real or imagined enemies. Ephemeral things and small-scale escapist experiences can provide some relief!”
And it is truly fitting then, that the accompanying video for ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ – directed by James Thesus Buck and Luke Brooks AKA Rottingdean Bazaar – sees Shaw encapsulated within her own nightclub, with clay looking attendees shimmying and shaking to the nonchalant memoranda she provides. Her own mini escape paints her amongst red curtains sipping on tiny martinis and seemingly centre stage, a taste of normality we could all do with right now.
With an album sown up and on the way, Dry Cleaning are coming back up for air ready to tackle 2021 in the way they should have this year. If it’s an album chocked full of tracks like this, it will have been worth the wait.
Issue Twenty-Eight of So Young is out now. It’s sold out in print but you can read the digital edition below.