Dry Cleaning Announce New Album ‘Secret Love’ Out 9 January 2026

Dry Cleaning by Max Miechowski
[L-R: Nick Buxton, Florence Shaw, Tom Dowse, Lewis Maynard]

On 9^th January 2026, Dry Cleaning will return with Secret Love, the group’s third studio album, produced by Cate Le Bon. Today, they share its first single, ‘Hit My Head All Day’, accompanied by a visualiser featuring movement by choreographer dance duo BULLYACHE.

Check out ‘Hit My Head All Day’ HERE or via the player below:

Secret Love is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships that created Dry Cleaning, between frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard. Here, the south London four-piece take their place in rock’s avant garde, catalysing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins.

The follow-up to Stumpwork started life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, all four members writing, playing and responding to each other in the room: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio the Loft and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, taking advantage of the sensory particulars of each space, and finally with Cate Le Bon at Black Box in the Loire Valley. After interviewing various potential producers, they picked Cate – an esteemed solo artist who has also made albums for Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Wilco and Horsegirl – for her unabashed positivity and openness. “Being in a room with them and hearing that vitality and life force that exists between them all, it’s such a unique expression,” she says.

Trust is Secret Love’s guiding theme, as signified by compulsively catchy ‘Hit My Head All Day’ which opens the album. Powered by pistons of breathy synths and cresting arcs of guitar, Florence’s signature mix of absurdism and sensitivity, “The song is about manipulation of the body and mind. The lyrics were initially inspired by the use of misinformation on social media by the far right. There are powerful people that seek to influence our behaviour for their own gain; to buy certain things, to vote a certain way. I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust, even in everyday life. It’s easy to fall under the influence of a sinister stranger who seems like a friend. 

We took a playful approach to the song. At one point it had harmonica on it instead of a vocal. At the demo stage we were inspired by There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone.”

Secret Love is released on 9 January 2026 and will be available digitally, on CD, cassette, black vinyl, limited edition Apricot vinyl (4AD store & indie retail) and Pearl/Arctic vinyl (Rough Trade exclusive). An exclusive run of white labels of Secret Love will be available to order for 48 hours only from today via the 4AD store, and a small quantity of JCD’s will be available exclusively on Bandcamp. A limited number of signed photo prints will also be available via the 4AD store and selected indie stores. To pre-order the album, and for more details head HERE.

To celebrate the release of Secret Love Dry Cleaning will play their biggest headline show of their career at London’s O2 Brixton Academy on 22 April 2026. Tickets go on general sale on Friday 3 October, with a pre-sale beginning on Wednesday 1 October. The latter is available to all those who pre-order Secret Love. For more information head HERE. 

“Dry Cleaning provide a voice for people who are at their wits’ end but not yet beyond a wry smile at the absurdity of modern life.” – Crack

“They’re one of a kind.” – NME *****

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