After receiving both critical and commercial success on their first album New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning returned to the same studio a year later to record their second studio album, Stumpwork. The south London based four-piece were able to create this record with the confidence to explore and experiment more than on their debut; however, make no mistake, this record doesn’t stray too far from the unique sound that the band set out with on New Long Leg.
The album kicks off with ‘Anna Calls From The Arctic’ a hypnotic track that sucks you into the world of Stumpwork The bass and percussion thump along underneath vocalist Florence Shaw’s lyrics, who’s writing style has been likened to a mosaic of words and phrases that she collects to give new meaning to. This has since led to concepts being harder to grasp in the past but she has honed this lyrical style perfectly for this album from their debut.
The oddly optimistic ‘Kwenchy Kups’ follows on from the opening track. Lyrically, this track could be one of my favourite on the album; short and sweet, it contains lines such as, ‘I don’t give a fuck dickface,’ and ‘things are shit, but they’re gonna be okay.’ This theme of existentialism is key throughout the album. However, the leading feature on this track is the rarely heard acoustic guitar, almost reminiscent of something off of Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister.
‘Gary Ashby’ was the 3rd single released in the run up to Stumpwork and was my personal favourite at the time, and still remains one of the albums top tracks. It addresses the serious issue of loss through the story of a pet tortoise named Gary running away from home. Beyond the lyrics, the instrumentation is on top form, all coming together to make the classic Dry Cleaning sound.
A track that didn’t stand up to the rest of the album for me was ‘Driver’s Story’. Despite opening with a beautifully dissonant guitar riff that wouldn’t feel out of place on Slint’s ‘Spiderland’, this track felt sluggish to me.
The furthest that Dry Cleaning push their sound on this record is ‘Hot Penny Day’. Opening with a delayed sitar and wah bass, it’s already set apart. Without the distinct vocals of Florence Shaw, even a die hard fan couldn’t pick this as one of theirs from a line up. Nevertheless it is still a stand out track on the record – the instrumental section builds tension perfectly, leading into a brilliant culmination of the track, maintaining this energy till the end.
The title track is fairly forgettable I’m afraid. On an album with so many stand out tracks that stick with you, ‘Stumpwork’ just didn’t do so in a way that a title track should.
‘No Decent Shoes For Rain’ is, to me, the best track on the record by a mile. The gentle guitar intro pulls you into the song until the full force of Dry Cleaning’s sound hits you. This is them at their best; each part works together to enhance each other to make a completely enchanting song. The only flaw with this song is that I feel it’s out of place at track 7, it feels like it would’ve been the perfect closing track for this record
Another song that feels out of place to me is the short and snappy first single, ‘Don’t Press Me’. On the first release of this track I thought it was brilliant, and still do, as a stand alone song; but in the context of the album, it felt like a burst of energy when I didn’t need one. The shift from the slow and thumping ‘No Decent…’ into the jumpy ‘Don’t Press Me’ just doesn’t work for me.
‘Conservative Hell’ was really promising on a first listen. Shaw’s vocals are as distinct as always and the instrumentation carries the first half of the song nicely until we reach a strange orchestral drop that makes the final 2 minutes of this track a bore.
As in ‘Hot Penny Day’, ‘Liberty Log’ built upon the experimentation that Dry Cleaning were attempting at certain points, with drones falling across the soundscape, supported by minimalist instrumentation.
For me, the closing track is the most important on any album, it should be everything you want the listener to take away from the album all wrapped up in one final blast. ‘Icebergs’ begins with an EQ effect on the vocals that set this track apart and Shaw brings up previous themes of loss and being idle, but for the most part she leaves space for the instruments to finish the album off. ‘Icebergs’ works well as a closing track, and after my first listen I went back to play it the record all over again.
Stumpwork is a great album – I’d hesitate to say that it will go as far as New Long Leg did, but it deserves to. Dry Cleaning show off a witty lyricism and compositional elements that come together to complement each other so that no one member of the band takes all the glory. These also, of course, build on their distinctive sound. My only real issue with the album is the shift in mood that comes with its B-side – it felt strange and out of place to me.
Rating: 8/10
