Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit Lyrics – Dry Cleaning

Dry Cleaning’s spinning fragile webs of wit and ache on Secret Love, their third studio full-length bowing January 9 via 4AD, and “Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit” is that urgent, spider-tinged plea for room to breathe—produced by Cate Le Bon, it’s like a walk in the weeds where every step uncovers a buried secret.

This single, out since early December 9, captures the band’s alchemy at its sharpest: Florence Shaw’s deadpan spoken-word poetry tumbling over jagged post-punk riffs, with Lewis Maynard’s bass locking in like a hesitant heartbeat and the duo of Tom Dowse and Nick Buxton threading guitar squalls that mimic mental static. It’s got that signature Dry Cleaning DNA—angular, art-school edges blending Wire-y tension with PJ Harvey whispers—but Le Bon’s touch adds a warmer, almost folk-tinged haze, letting the chaos simmer instead of explode.

Thematically, it’s a raw unpack of isolation’s double bind: yearning for connection (“I dearly want to make friends”) while flinching from the world’s gaze (“I’m afraid about my privacy”), all laced with those surreal hiccups of daily dread—spiders on skin, dick pics in the ether, the past’s lingering sting. Shaw’s stream-of-consciousness lands like diary scraps from a stalled April afternoon, equal parts defiant (“Everyone else can go fuck it!”) and deflated (“Everyday, I’m a shell”), turning personal fractures into universal hum.

Secret Love lives up to its name—a veiled love letter to the bonds that tether us through the fog, drawing from the band’s lockdown-forged closeness. The 11-track set unfolds like a hidden sketchbook: openers “Hit My Head All Day” and “Cruise Ship Designer” (singles that dropped in fall ’25) set a restless sail, while closers like “Joy” and “I Need You” chase glimmers amid the grit. No big collabs, just the core four plus Le Bon’s subtle sorcery, clocking in at around 45 minutes of taut, textured unease. Recorded in Welsh hideaways last spring, it’s their most inward gaze yet, swapping Stumpwork’s relational jabs for softer reckonings on growth and ghosts.

London’s Dry Cleaning are cresting a quiet wave right now, post-2022’s Mercury Prize nod for Stumpwork and sold-out stateside jaunts that packed rooms with fans reciting Shaw’s non-sequiturs like scripture. From 2019’s post-punk DIY roots to this evolved intimacy, they’re the antidote to gloss—raw, restless, reminding us art’s best when it itches.

Dive into the Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other Secret Love tracks for more of Dry Cleaning’s enigmatic post-punk vibes.