Dry Cleaning @ Les Foufounes Électriques▪

Foufs is as packed as I’ve ever seen it for the return of British post-punkers Dry Cleaning, making up for last January’s cancelled show at Le National in a much more intimate venue. Apparently, it was the only place available when re-booking the tour! Nobody is complaining; this is a band usually gracing much larger stages than this.

The 5-piece arrive on stage with drummer Nick Buxton rocking a Habs tee, in advance of tomorrow’s Game 7, so the cheers that greet them are that extra bit loud! Brand new song Sliced by a Fingernail opens the set in a flurry of moody, squealing riffs, with Florence Shaw’s dulcet, spoken-word delivery a glorious contrast. Despite the uniqueness of the band’s sound, there are moments where the influences are obvious; Blood is so Smiths-y, Don’t Press Me is unmistakably Pretenders, and Magic of Meghan sounds like it could open any B-52’s record. It adds a wonderful variety to their catalogue, and translates so well in the live setting, with the guitar and bass much more prominent than on record.

Florence may well be the first person ever to grace the stage of a sold-out Foufs show and feel cold… she declares “it feels Canadian up here!” A couple of songs later, as the cold breeze of the A/C continues to irritate her, someone in the crowd passes up their plaid jacket to her, which she proceeds to wear for the duration of the set! She blames the fact that her energy level doesn’t quite match the rest of the band, most notably bearded bassist Lewis Maynard, who is headbanging throughout in a manner much familiar to what you usually see at Foufs’ show!

Lewis is the hero of the show on Anna Calls From the Arctic, too. The drum machine effects box somehow malfunctions, and then Lewis can’t hear any of the drums through his monitor either. Upon realizing that we hear it just fine on the floor, he hops down and plays the entire song amongst us. Florence jokes, “Wow, I can’t deal with wind, but you can do that!”

After dedicating Evil Evil Idiot to a friend who filmed a video for the song on the Metro here in Montreal, the local references keep coming. Guitarist Tom Dowse proclaims, “We love coming here, we had breakfast at Beauties today, and we’re feeling it now!!!” A few songs later, Nick introduces Conversation by saying, “This song is for the Habs tomorrow night, c’mon guys, this is your year!” I find out later that he’s actually a Devils fan, but it’s good that he pays his respects appropriately while he’s here!

The 20-song set flies by. My Soul/Half Pint has a hook to die for, while Cruise Ship Designer sees Nick and Tom add harmonies that are almost as spoken word as Florence’s lead vocal! Scratchcard Lanyard is unsurprisingly wonderful, every single component of it. The bass drives, the guitar solo is massive, and the acoustic guitar strumming away at the back of the stage from the mysterious 5th touring member adds additional oomph to the sound.

A stellar 95 minutes from start to finish!