"Dry Cleaning singer Florence Shaw likes to keep some distance between her vocals and the rest of the band. Shaw's curious confidences, spoken-word confessions, and bemused monologues appear to have only a passing relationship to the propulsive rhythms and brittle riffs that frame them. That dissonance can be striking at first, but it grows restrictive-stark contrast can only take you so far."
"For their third album, the British quartet escapes the narrow confines of their style, in ways both expected-increased use of melody in both the vocals and instrumentation-and surprising, by pushing detachment even further. "Cruise Ship Designer" focuses on alienation, with Shaw assuming an identity that's not only separate from the music (chiming arpeggios and a crisp tempo) surrounding it but is actively estranged from the concept of song itself."
"Lyrically, Shaw assumes the identity of a male naval architect discussing the vagaries of the ocean liner trade. "I don't personally like them, but I need to have a useful purpose," Shaw tells us, alternating this deprecation with blunt braggadocio: "A powerful boat for a powerful mind." Shaw has always used her frontperson position as a vehicle for performing specific and ever-shifting roles, but here she moves beyond the merely theatrical."
Florence Shaw separates her spoken-word vocals from propulsive rhythms and brittle riffs, creating deliberate dissonance. The band's third album broadens its sound with increased melodic elements while intensifying vocal detachment. "Cruise Ship Designer" centers on alienation through Shaw's adoption of a male naval architect persona, making the vocals feel estranged from the concept of song. The track alternates deprecation and braggadocio and ends with a claim of hidden messages. That bold artificiality makes other songs feel less daring. Lines about cleaning and demeaning labor receive a different resonance after the album's unsettling dislocation.
Read at SPIN
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