{"id":2235737,"date":"2026-01-15T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2235737"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:07:11","slug":"dry-cleaning-pick-their-favourite-songs-of-the-last-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dry-cleaning-pick-their-favourite-songs-of-the-last-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry Cleaning pick their favourite songs of the last five years"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

(Credits: Max Miechowski)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Post-punk never really goes away, sitting steadfast in rock and pop\u2019s otherwise fickle climate with a near certitude for nearly half a century. <\/p>\n

Case in point is London<\/a>\u2019s Dry Cleaning, carrying on the post-punk mantle but imbuing their jagged and angular terrain with a uniquely surrealist wash of hazy, amorphous genre grab bags, easily hoarding dreampop indie and industrial prickle into their nebulous sound.<\/p>\n

\n

On the eve of their third album\u2019s release, Secret Love<\/em>, vocalist Florence Shaw and guitarist Tom Dowse met with the Far Out<\/em> team at south London\u2019s The Ivy House to feature in the third instalment of our Existential Boozer<\/a><\/em> series. As usual, a winding traverse of topics was covered, jumping between loathed politicians, the perils of middle age, and the charm of drummer Nick Buxton\u2019s dog.<\/p>\n

Most intriguing, however, was the pair\u2019s opening up on what they felt was the best song of the past five years.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy internal rifle through heavy rotations and personal record collections, Shaw plays fast and loose with the five-year criteria, opting for Jessica Pratt\u2019s reflective folk piece \u2018Back Baby\u2019 from 2015\u2019s On Your Own Love Again<\/em>. \u201cIt just moves me so much,\u201d she confesses. \u201cI love the sound of her voice. It\u2019s like from another planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw also presents an intriguing interpretation of \u2018Back Baby\u2019s lyrical wander across a one-sided, fraught relationship with heartache never too far away. \u201cI think it\u2019s about her mother,\u201d Shaw posits. \u201cThat really interested me that it wasn\u2019t about a romantic relationship. It was about a relationship between her and her mum, and it\u2019s just beautiful. It\u2019s like perfect. When I play it, when it gets to the end, I just start it again, you know? I can\u2019t listen to it once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowse similarly seems pained to pick just one among a suspected volume of much-loved tunes. Staying put well within the five-year challenge, however, Geese frontman Cameron Winter\u2019s debut solo effort from 2024 Heavy Metal<\/a><\/em> ultimately swayed Dowse to pick its emotional but not \u201coverly shmaltzy\u201d number, \u2018Love Takes Miles\u2019, an ode to love\u2019s often interruptive and out of nowhere surprise when one is less than prepared for its tumultuous effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat album crept up on me,\u201d Dowes recalled, remembering the occasional Heavy Metal<\/em> cuts that would make it into Dry Cleaning\u2019s Disco Pickles<\/em> NTS show by the other band members. \u201cEvery time I\u2019d be like, \u2018This is interesting. What\u2019s this?\u2019\u2026Eventually, I got into it. I think it\u2019s not easy to find a fresh way talking about love in love songs. I think he\u2019s really managed it with [\u2019Love Takes Miles\u2019].\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowes added, \u201cHe\u2019s brought a totally different way of doing it, and it\u2019s really refreshing. It\u2019s very charming, very sweet, makes you feel all the emotions you want from a love song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw concurred, drawing attention to a line from \u2018Love Takes Miles\u2019 perfectly illustrating Winters\u2019 idiosyncratic but heartfelt songwriting pen. \u201cI like when he says \u2018Love will make you fit it all in the car.\u2019 I just think that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n