We’re just a few days out from the release of Dry Cleaning’s third album, Secret Love, but the South London-based rockers are sharing another stellar LP track early. Today (Jan. 5), the rollicking four-piece delivered “Joy,” an anthem for anyone needing a little more positivity in their lives.
The band used a variety of advertisements from Virginia Tech University’s History of Food and Drink archive to source lyrics for the song. It also serves as the closing track on Secret Love, offering a message of hope to listeners during the 11-track record’s final moments.
“Recently I’ve felt pessimistic about the world,” band frontperson and lyricist Florence Shaw shares in a statement. “The influence of what they call ‘the manosphere,’ the genocide against Palestinians continuing despite huge protests, the rise of the racist Reform party in the UK, the promotion of AI in art and music. I wanted to try and stoke my drive to stay positive and spread softness and compassion. The wishes in the song have a naive quality.”
“Joy, we’ll build a cute, harmless world,” they declare in the track’s blazing chorus. “Don’t want one from you, cult.”
“Joy” is the last of four pre-release singles from Secret Love, produced by Cate Le Bon and due out this Friday (Jan. 9) via 4AD. Dry Cleaning has also shared the track’s official music video, which features guitarist Tom Dowse and choreography by BULLYACHE.
“We 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,” Dowse says of the video.
We’ve seen the vastly different ways people behave at our shows – pogoing sing-alongs, full wig-outs, lone figures inhabiting the sound in their own private universe,” he continues. “With that in mind, we asked Bullyache to design a set of moves to each song on Secret Love as a starting point for ourselves and others to mimic or interpret them in a fun and idiosyncratic way, regardless of technical ability.”
Watch the official music video for “Joy” below:
