{"id":224052,"date":"2026-01-06T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:00:08","slug":"dry-cleaning-stay-positive-and-spread-softness-and-compassion-on-hopeful-new-single-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224052\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry Cleaning “stay positive and spread softness and compassion” on hopeful new single ‘Joy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dry Cleaning<\/a> have shared a new single, \u2018Joy\u2019. You can listen to it below.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Dry Cleaning on \u2018Stumpwork\u2019 and playing Grace Jones\u2019 Meltdown Festival: \u201cShe\u2019s such a hero\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The song is the latest preview of the South London post-punk band\u2019s third studio album, \u2018Secret Love\u2019<\/a>, which is released this Friday (January 9) via 4AD. Pre-order\/pre-save here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For \u2018Joy\u2019, the lyrics were pieced together from adverts in Virginia Tech University\u2019s \u2018History Of Food And Drink\u2019 archive. The track \u201cserves as a compassionate coach to those in desperate need of positivity and kindness\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also provides an \u201coptimistic sign-off\u201d on \u2018Secret Love\u2019, delivering the hopeful words: \u201cDon\u2019t give up on being sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite referring to the \u201chorrorland\u201d and \u201cdestruction\u201d of current times, the single assures the listener that we can \u201cbuild a cute harmless world\u201d for the future.<\/p>\n

Frontwoman Florence Shaw explained: \u201cRecently I\u2019ve felt pessimistic about the world. The influence of what they call \u2018the manosphere\u2019, the genocide against Palestinians continuing despite huge protests, the rise of the racist Reform party in the UK, the promotion of AI<\/a> in art and music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to try and stoke my drive to stay positive and spread softness and compassion. The wishes in the song have a naive quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Joy\u2019 arrives with an official BULLYACHE-choreographed video, starring Dry Cleaning guitarist Tom Dowse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking to get away from the longer form, narrative and impressionistic confines of a typical music video and give ourselves, friends and fans a way to respond to the music in a more expressive way that feels personal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the vastly different ways people behave at our shows \u2013 pogoing singalongs, full wig-outs, lone figures inhabiting the sound in their own private universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that in mind, we asked BULLYACHE to design a set of moves to each song on \u2018Secret Love\u2019 as a starting point for ourselves and others to mimic or interpret them in a fun and idiosyncratic way, regardless of technical ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Joy\u2019 follows on from the group\u2019s previous singles \u2018Hit My Head All Day\u2019<\/a>, \u2018Cruise Ship Designer\u2019<\/a> and \u2018Let Me Grow And You\u2019ll See The Fruit\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The imminent \u2018Secret Love\u2019 \u2013 the follow-up to 2022\u2019s \u2018Stumpwork\u2019<\/a> \u2013 recently featured on NME\u2019s most anticipated album releases of 2026 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dry Cleaning will showcase the record when they tour across the UK, Europe and North America this year<\/a>, after playing some intimate UK outstore dates this month<\/a>. The band are also set to perform at Latitude 2026<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n

Find any remaining tickets here<\/a>\u00a0(UK\/Ireland),\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0(Europe) and\u00a0here<\/a> (North America).<\/p>\n

Shaw wrote \u2018Secret Love\u2019 in various practice rooms with her bandmates \u2013 Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard \u2013 with production coming from Cate Le Bon\u00a0<\/a>(Deerhunter<\/a>,\u00a0Devendra Banhart<\/a>,\u00a0Wilco<\/a>,\u00a0Horsegirl<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Last summer, Dry Cleaning supported The Maccabees at their All Points East 2025 reunion show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0NME previously about \u2018Stumpwork\u2019<\/a>, Dowse said: \u201cI think there\u2019s more space in it. When you do the first one, every take you do you\u2019re anxious, like, \u2018This has to be the one\u2019. When you do the second [album], you realise it doesn\u2019t have to be the one \u2013 you just do your thing and then try something.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it gets on [the album], sometimes it doesn\u2019t. I guess you just put yourself under a bit less pressure, and that made a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dry Cleaning have shared a new single, \u2018Joy\u2019. You can listen to it below. READ MORE:\u00a0Dry Cleaning on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,131,46,409,81525],"class_list":{"0":"post-224052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-indie","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-post-punk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}