We’re stuck in the UK this week – the deadpan post-punk of Dry Cleaning, and Charli XCX’s Gothic literature soundtrack.
Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
2026, 8/10
South London post-punk band Dry Cleaning expand their horizons on their third album. On their previous records, John Pariah provided a tough post-punk sound. Here, they’re softer – frontwoman Florence Shaw has started to sing rather than speak, making them sound less like a 21st-century, female-fronted Fall. They’re helped by famous fans – Cate Le Bon produces Secret Love, while Jeff Tweedy guests on guitar on ‘My Soul / Half Pint’.
The spoken word parts are the most memorable – on ‘Cruise Ship Designer’, Shaw speaks:
Climbing ladders, I’m not an ambitious man
Cruise Ship Designer
I believe in design
I am not an ambitious man
Among the spoken-word efforts like ‘Evil Evil Idiot’, pieces like ‘Joy’ and ‘Let Me Grow And You’ll See The Fruit’ are closer to songs with Shaw closer to singing than speaking.
Florence Shaw is a charismatic frontwoman, making Secret Love often captivating.
Charli XCX
Wuthering Heights
2026, 7.5/10
Last heard, Charli XCX was hosting a Brat summer. Now she’s back for a Wuthering winter, the soundtrack to the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Gothic novel. The movie has received mixed reviews, but the soundtrack is strong, a fascinating pivot from XCX after the sugary intimate pop of Brat.
She sets the tone by working with Velvet Underground alumni John Cale on ‘House’, creating a highbrow and unsettling atmosphere. The record toes the line between soundtrack and studio album, but it’s generally enjoyable nonetheless. Charli XCX’s debut featured tense, brooding pop songs, and they’re back here like ‘Dying For You’ and ‘Chains of Love’. ‘Seeing Things’ is another highlight, with its pretty strings, it recalls Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love.
Wuthering Heights is short and a soundtrack, but it’s an enjoyable addition to Aitchison’s catalogue.
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Evil Evil Idiot…reminds me of the beatnik poets that would read their poems with a band behind them.
Wuthering Heights…I couldn’t listen to this every day or binge on it…but yes…it’s interesting and I do like the atmosphere of it.
Getting John Cale to guest on your record is instant cool points, I think.
The cool meter hits 11… I agree.
A lot to like out of the UK these days.
Yeah, it’s always punched above its weight, right?
In my barely awake state, from misreading the headline. I thought Dry Cleaning and Charlie XCX had collaborated. What a world.
I could see that working out ok…..
Me too