Rock

Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
4AD 4AD0868CD; LP: 4AD0868LP; cassette: 4AD0868MC

From their utilitarian name to their unusual juxtaposition of musical styles, Dry Cleaning couldn’t have existed before the 2020s. On ‘Hit My Head All Day’ a treated drum groove is lifted by ’70s disco bass, bongos and fuzzy, post-punk guitar. Florence Shaw recites a tale of learning by experience, which expands into melodic hooks and there’s a call-and-response with the band. Her spoken narratives often lead the listener inside the music in an inward-looking inverse of rock energy, and producer Cate le Bon captures the fine balance between voice and instruments. Fuelled by huge guitar chords, ‘Evil Evil Idiot’ presents cookery as guerilla activity, and there’s a sense of release on ‘Joy’, the album’s ebullient finale. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

Plantoid
Flare
Bella Union BELLA1689CD; LP: BELLA1689V

Neo-progressive Brighton trio Plantoid admit that their debut album was ‘very erratic in its jumping from idea to idea’. But while they’ve refined their approach, they’ve also retained their character. On the first minute of ‘Parasite’, the combination of staccato bass and guitar chords, and breathtakingly fast, punchy drumming, is nigh on overwhelming, but it settles down with guitarist Chloe Spence’s voice soaring sweetly over a twitchy, funky rhythm. ‘Dozer’ sets the tone for much of the album – it’s tuneful, immersive and groove-oriented for the most part, but don’t get too comfy as complex unison passages still burst out when you least expect them. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Ólöf Arnalds
Spira
Bella Union BELLA1677CD; LP: BELLA1677V

The Icelandic singer-songwriter emerged in the early 2000s in the barely classifiable, semi-legendary electronic folk band, múm. She has studied violin and classical singing, and her voice has a sweet lilt and unusual timbre. Björk, who she has collaborated with, described it as sounding ‘somewhere between a child’s and an old woman’s’, and at times her phrasing comes close to Joanna Newsom. Mainly just guitar and voice, Spira is very spare but exquisite, augmented by additional guitar and some minimal piano. It’s sung in Icelandic but there are links to an online English translation, and it’s lyrically compelling and captivating throughout. MB

Sound Quality: 80%

Magic Fig
Valerian Tea
Exploding In Sound EIS149 (coloured vinyl; download 48kHz/24-bit)

Now it’s midwinter it is good to listen to summery music, and the San Franciscan group’s second album feels like it has a dayglo paisley-patterned border around it. Inna Showalter’s voice evokes memories of the late Trish Keenan from UK’s electronic pop-experimentalists Broadcast, as it dances across synths and Mellotron, and Magic Fig also delve deep into ’60s psychedelia. Over the occasional flourish of Ringo-esque drums, they play incisive guitar and sonorous basslines garnished with baroque-pop flourishes, and there are unexpected structural twists – as on the title track, where they take the listener for a brisk walk along the scenic route. MB

Sound Quality: 80%