When I went home to California after I graduated college in May, Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg was the only album my parents wanted to play in the car. It became a household meme. “Dry Cleaning, again?” I sighed, more than once. But “Scratchcard Lanyard” slowly burned itself into my brain, like a cradle lullaby you never forget. I had already listened to the album and enjoyed it prior to returning home, but this constant repetition, combined with the raw-feels of being home again (maybe for the last time in a while) injected the music with new emotion. Plus, the music synced surprisingly well with the experience of riding through LA freeways: the band’s lean, insistent playstyle and Florence Shaw’s deadpan vocals seemed to fit perfectly with the sensation of speeding along narrow, colorless strips and flat, dry landscapes. When I listen to “Scratchcard Lanyard” nowadays, I’m flooded with memories of that specific time period, the emotions I felt then, even snippets of conversation.
#5 - Dry Cleaning - “Scratchcard Lanyard”
#5 - Dry Cleaning - “Scratchcard Lanyard”
#5 - Dry Cleaning - “Scratchcard Lanyard”
When I went home to California after I graduated college in May, Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg was the only album my parents wanted to play in the car. It became a household meme. “Dry Cleaning, again?” I sighed, more than once. But “Scratchcard Lanyard” slowly burned itself into my brain, like a cradle lullaby you never forget. I had already listened to the album and enjoyed it prior to returning home, but this constant repetition, combined with the raw-feels of being home again (maybe for the last time in a while) injected the music with new emotion. Plus, the music synced surprisingly well with the experience of riding through LA freeways: the band’s lean, insistent playstyle and Florence Shaw’s deadpan vocals seemed to fit perfectly with the sensation of speeding along narrow, colorless strips and flat, dry landscapes. When I listen to “Scratchcard Lanyard” nowadays, I’m flooded with memories of that specific time period, the emotions I felt then, even snippets of conversation.