Corner Hotel
A packed Corner Hotel is tingling with anticipation for this long-awaited show. Since their song The Magic of Meghan first appeared in playlists and on end-of-year wrap ups three years ago, there has been a buzz about Dry Cleaning, one that has grown with every critically acclaimed release and curiously thrilling video. Tonight, it finally releases in the first of two sold out Meredith sideshows.
Holding the tension of these final minutes is Girl and Girl, surely the most Melbourian band to hail from the Gold Coast. A prolific post-rock four piece with a sound like a series of removalist truck accidents – all breaking glass guitar and rhythms like collapsing furniture – their set is galvanising stuff, and all the better for the arresting presence of mulleted lead vocalist Kai James. He stamps his foot and wails into the microphone as if embodying the spirit of David Byrne at CBGBs. Then, legs entwined, steps back to push the head of his guitar against the floor, playing jagged chords like Roland S. Howard. Drummer Aunty Liss, James’s actual aunt, is an equally authoritative presence, deploying rhythms that would empower anyone with whom she shared a stage. Shame It’s Not Now, back-announced alongside a qualified recommendation for the film Bones and All, is one of several songs that match the energy of their delivery. Their “cowboy song” Strangers and Divorce Song Number 2, a highlight from their recent EP Divorce, are others. It’s a magnificent set from a band perfectly matched to the headliner. Who knew a Josef K seven-inch being played at 50 RPM could sound this good?
Red curtains part, the sold out room goes wild, and Dry Cleaning arrive. Guitarist Tom Dowse pumps his fists in the air, matching our excitement as he reaches for his Burns electric 12-string and leads the band into one of 2022’s better songs, Kwenchy Cups. “Things are shit, but they're gonna be okay / And I'm gonna see the otters / There aren't any otters / There are…” Singer Florence Shaw stands as if in an unmoving queue wearing a pleated white dress, a garment made for movement. She stares at the ceiling as if conversing with a light bulb while around her, the band - Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, drummer Nick Buxton and keyboard player Dan - channel all the energy she isn’t spending on her delivery. They feel like no other band you’ve seen.
“It’s like we’ve been texting for a long time, and we’ve only just met up,” Shaw says with a nervous smile. “So, it’s a bit scary.” Whatever fear she feels seems to dissipate quickly as the set progresses. Between-song smiles become more common, the microphone stand gripped less frequently, and when several members of the very enthusiastic crowd shout the brand of lager she's sipping, “Moon Dog!”, she looks at the can, grins and quietly tells us, “It’s nice”. Front-loaded with their faster songs - Gary Ashby, Viking Hair and Scratchcard Lanyard - Dry Cleaning’s set is a thrilling mix of old and new. The crowd sang along with the extremely wordy Her Hippo, Leafy and No Decent Shoes for Rain, which is no small thing.
On stage, Dowse and Maynard are all tattooed limbs, wide-legged stances and comically rock faces, as if in a Van Halen cover band losing a Friday night crowd, all of which accentuates Shaw’s librarian ghost vibe. The set, which showcases more atmospheric songs from their latest album, Stumpwork, pauses for the room to sing Happy Birthday to Dan, who then takes the microphone for a joyously chaotic rendition of The Misfits’ TV Casualty. Shaw returns for the almost jazzy Conservative Hell before they close their set with a blistering take of The Magic of Meaghan, a song that – with its wry assessment of the life and media treatment of Meghan Markle – inadvertently measures how the world has changed since 2019. Unsatisfied, the crowd bay for “one more song”, which the band happily provide in the form of obscure bass-driven near instrumental Tony Speaks! and Stumpwork’s opening track, Anna Calls the Arctic, a low-key sign-off to a brace of tunes which, if the brisk trade at the merch desk is anything to go by, found an extremely appreciative audience.
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