Dry Cleaning with YHWH Nailgun
Date and Time
Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Location
Thalia Hall
1807 S Allport St
Chicago, IL 60608
Artists / Performers
Event Details
Secret Love is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships that created Dry Cleaning. Here, frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard take their place in rocks 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 Florences 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. Producer Cate Le Bon likens the impression of listening to walking through a city; these 11 songs might also arrive like distinct images in a gallery.The record started life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, the south London four-piece writing, playing and responding to each other in the room, the instrumentalists egging each other on as Florence drew from her collection of postcards and found materials: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Then they bundled their demos in a suitcase and took them to musical friends with strong palettes to test and twist them. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedys Chicago studio the Loft and explosive ones with Gilla Bands Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox in Dublin, taking advantage of the sonic particulars of each space, and finally with Cate in the Loire Valley. Some acts would fear being subsumed by these other musical iconoclasts. Dry Cleaning wanted to push themselves harder than they ever had before. Were very confident about our identity, says Florence. It doesnt seem to be possible to break it down.The opposite: Secret Love is a singular, career-defining statement, coming after debut New Long Leg (2021) and Stumpwork (2022). They push the cheeky no wave of compulsively catchy lead single Hit My Head All Day somewhere totally unexpected, powered by pistons of breathy synths and magnificent cresting arcs of guitar. Cruise Ship Designer is a classic Dry Cleaning pop song in the vein of Gary Ashby, sung from the perspective of a nautical entrepreneur who has deluded himself that his work serves society. There is unprecedented darkness in Blood, a lurch between forlorn chill and desperate alarm that confronts the normalisation of witnessing atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine online, and the British governments callous, capitalist attitude to war. Amid these disingenuous actors, Florence turns over questions of trust, and volunteers more of herself than ever before, a profound gesture of connection. She finds Secret Love quite sad and dark, she says, but feels good about the honesty of that reflection. I really love confessional things, she says. It always makes me feel calm when people are sharing hidden stuff. I hate when you get a sense that theres stuff people arent saying.
Important Event Information
This event is 17 and over. Any ticket holder unable to present valid identification indicating that they are at least 17 years of age will not be admitted to this event, and will not be eligible for a refund. Ticket Fee includes 1% City Amusement Tax.
Pricing
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