When UK post-punk talk-singers Dry Cleaning first debuted, critics labelled them as “deadpan.” Lead singer Florence Shaw delivered her vocals with studied indifference beneath walls of no-wavey guitar-centric soundscapes. However, their third album, Secret Love, transforms this approach. Shaw’s abstract stream-of-consciousness lyrics have always defined Dry Cleaning’s sound, yet now she actively sings—and sings quite well—throughout Secret Love. She experimented briefly with this on their second album’s song “Stumpwork,” but here she abandons her poker-faced ramblings about grocery lists and phone messages (though “Blood” and “Evil Evil Idiot” resurrect that style).

Secret Love‘s opener, “Hit My Head All Day,” showcases Shaw’s newfound confidence as she deploys both low and high falsetto registers. The title track, “Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of A Boy),” crystallizes this evolution. Shaw begins with her classic listless sprechgesang, then unleashes a lovely, velvety soft vocal that transforms the song. Guitarist Tom Dowse supports her with underwater electric guitar washes and acoustic strumming that resembles a joyful mandolin, creating a frenzied stand-out moment. The band sustains this ethereal atmosphere through the following acoustic ballad, “Let Me Grow and You’ll See The Fruit.” Whether art pop provocateur and producer Cate Le Bon helped push this vocal transformation remains unclear, but the results make for some of the best Dry Cleaning we’ve heard to date.