Secret Love is to be released on January 9th 2026, the third album from the English post-punk spoken word band on 4AD.
‘Hit My Head All Day’ is the lead single from the record which was produced by Cate Le Bon, and the video features movement by choreographer dance duo BULLYACHE.
DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES
2 October – NEW YORK, NY, USA, Warsaw
11 October – SPLIT, CROATIA, Planet Dom Festival
23 October – MADRID, SPAIN, Barceló Theatre
24 October – VALENCIA, SPAIN, Loco Club
25 October – BARCELONA, SPAIN, Paral.lel 62
7 November – BRIGHTON, UK, Mutations Festival
8 November – BRISTOL, UK, Simple Things Festival
3 January – BOGNOR REGIS, UK, Rockaway Beach Festival
22 April – LONDON, UK, O2 Academy Brixton
See more from the press releases 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 sonic 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 – Secret Love – 4AD0868
Formats: Standard black LP, Limited Edition Apricot LP, Limited Edition Pearl / Arctic LP & CD
Album artwork by Erica Eyres + Tracklisting
A1. Hit My Head All Day
A2. Cruise Ship Designer
A3. My Soul / Half Pint
A4. Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)
A5. Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit
B6. Blood
B7. Evil Evil Idiot
B8. Rocks
B9. The Cute Things
B10. I Need You
B11. Joy
PRE-ORDER HERE
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
