Dry Cleaning announce new album ‘Secret Love’ with new song

(Credits: Max Miechowski)

Mon 29 September 2025 17:00, UK

It’s official: Dry Cleaning are making their return. On January 9th, 2026, the British band will return with their third album, Secret Love. For now, they’ve shared the first single from the upcoming release, ‘Hit My Head All Day’.

Their new single doubles as the opener for the upcoming full-length, their first since 2022’s Stumpwork. The new song is influenced by Reaganite paranoia of early 1980s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave, and pastoral fingerpicking.

Bandmates Florence Shaw, Tom Dowse, Nick Buxton, and Lewis Maynard have opened up about the free-wheeling track, sharing in a press release, “The song is about manipulation of the body and mind.”

They continue: “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.”

They concluded of the exciting new track, “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.”

While the south London band birthed key ideas in their Peckham rehearsal space, Secret Love on the whole evolved through long sessions in Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio, the Loft, and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin. Their last stop in making the album was with Cate Le Bon at Black Box in the Loire Valley.

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 April 22nd, 2026. Tickets will go on general sale on October 3rd.

Far Out gave their 2022 full-length, Stumpwork, a credible four stars, writing. “Ultimately, Stumpwork attempts to define the absurd horror show that British culture and interpersonal relationships have become over the past few years. Through Shaw, in particular, Stumpwork tackles the worrying socio-political state of Britain in the only way Brits know, through relentless mocking, hiding the actual anxiety underneath layers of jokes and obscurity. That’s not to say that righteous concerns are not given ample room on the album; they are, but they just need a little digging up to bring them to the surface. A little Stumpwork, you might say.”