Review
Florence Shaw no longer just collages the detritus of modern life; she now occasionally steps out of her signature spoken-word delivery to sing about it.
On Secret Love, producer Cate Le Bon softens the angularity of Dry Cleaning's foundational post-punk architecture. The quartet tempers their usual "vinegary distorted guitar" with unfamiliar textures, pivoting into everything from "machine-driven 80s funk" to a "plush atmosphere of warped folk and submerged guitar tones". While the rhythm section maintains its tense foundations, the record radiates a lighter, "crystalline, precise hue". Critics widely embrace this evolution, noting the release secures a "sweet spot between the familiar and the new".
Shaw's lyrical presence mirrors this instrumental shift, adopting a "sprightly, more sing-song-like vocal cadence". Rather than acting entirely as a detached compiler of internet absurdity, she now roams these tracks as a "cautious voyeur" processing personal overwhelm. While some miss the agitated edge of their earlier work, the consensus praises her delicate expansion into melody, catching a narrator moving from "politely bored" observer to an active, vulnerable participant.
