Review

Secret Love is the third album by the South London based ‘Dry Cleaning’. It was released on 4AD on Jan 9th 2026. It is produced by Cate Le Bon and mostly recorded at her Black Box Studios in the Loire Valley, France in mid-2025. It’s had an excellent press reception and has entered the album charts at number 12. This album has seen some changes for the band and a foray into working with more people and trying new ideas. Breaking their collaboration with producer John Parish in favour of the Welsh musician / producer Cate Le Bon. She in turn has encouraged a few other innovations. We've been treated to Florence's sweet voice after she’s been coaxed into singing parts rather than just spoken word. Guitarist Tom Dowse has branched out into using new guitars and effects to give a harsher sound for some of the tracks. There are also a number of cameo parts by additional musicians including guitars from Wilko’s Jeff Tweedy, and Bruce Lamont of American rock band Yakuza on Saxophone. Some of the standout tracks are ‘Let me grow and you’ll see the fruit’, “The Cute Things” and “Secret Love (concealed in the drawing of a boy)”, that both have Florence singing, and “Blood” with some Jonny Marr influenced guitars. Sweet Baboo plays bass clarinet on the sedate “I need you”. Tom Dowse adds Mandolin to his repertoire on “Secret Love” There’s some slightly disturbing lyrics on “Evil evil idiot” where a fictional wellness influencer talks to us with authority but gives bogus advice. The best albums don't hit you straight away. This one takes at least 3 or 4 listens to appreciate it, I think it's the harshness of some of the guitars particularly near the beginning. The album cover is a painting of the band's singer Florence Shaw slightly unnervingly having her eye washed, it's painted by Canadian artist Erica Eyres. Ella also did all the artwork for the singles off the album. I love the fact that producer Cate Le Bon’s surname is a pseudonym based on Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon. Her regular surname is Timothy. She is a musician and record producer. As a musician she has released 2 albums as half of DRINKS and 7 solo albums, the most recent being ’Michelangelo Dying’. And a follow up song from the same session featuring St Vincent. She has produced albums for Deerhunter, John Grant, Kurt Vile, Wilco, Horsegirl to name a few.