New Long Leg

Laconic sing/speak vocals over slightly chaotic music: an odd combination that somehow works

About one month prior to this writing—which would make it late April 2021—I was on Facebook and a sponsored advertisement from 4AD Records appeared on my feed. It was a performance video of a band I’d never heard of, and right away I was intrigued by the band’s appearance: The guitarist was a short-haired fellow in a pink shirt and pink cashmere sweater, flailing away on a Gibson SG, the bassist might have just finished a gig in a Grateful Dead cover band, while the drummer could have been an economics major at the local university. But then there was the singer: stock still, her eyes transfixed on the camera. She did not sing so much as seem to be reciting disjointed entries from a journal. Her laconic vocals and non-sequitur lyrics contrasting with the slightly chaotic music was also unique and oddly transfixing.

The band is Dry Cleaning, an off-hand name befitting this group. The album is called New Long Leg. I highly recommend it.