Rating: 2/5
After the announcement of Disclosure’s new album, I was beyond excited. I felt like Christmas was just around the corner. I was ready to be blown away. Instead, the experience was much like Santa forgetting about me. Miserable. With the amount of hype that surrounded the album, I expected fireworks — instead I got sparklers.
Don’t get me wrong, Caracal wasn’t shit, but it was disappointing considering the exceptional musicianship and craft in Disclosure’s first album, Settle. Unlike Caracal, Settle provided a transcendent dive into a fresh, cool and salty take on the dance/pop crossover and showed a way of bringing the club dwellers, festival-goers and the inexperienced all together into one collaborative, weird and happy family.
The first song featuring The Weeknd left me perplexed. I’ve felt the same confusion when I’ve woken up after a night smoking durries and drinking vodka.
“Omen” features a reunion with Sam Smith in an attempt to recreate the success of “Latch”. The track itself isn’t too bad, but that’s the problem. No part of the song is great. I had no desire to jump up and shake my booty. Instead, I sat there waiting. I doubt whether the track could be distinguished as a Disclosure track.
As I listened through the album, panic began to sink in. I wondered if my favourite dance/pop crossover brother-duo would leave me in a state of despair? They did. The biggest disappointment on the album was “Magnets”, a collaboration with Kiwi musician and icon, Lorde. One would assume that a Lorde/Disclosure collaboration would be a match made in heaven, right? Wrong. Lorde’s powerful vocals were lost in translation with only a semi-decent attempt at a baseline to back her up.
The album does have highlights. “Holding On” featuring Gregory Porter’s luscious and silvery jazz vocals is a sudden flashback to Disclosure’s original sound. The track had different layers that gave off that typical “banger” vibe I have come to love from Disclosure. And with an unusual appearance from Miguel on the album, a more sensuous and sultry sound can be found in “Good Intentions”.
It was not until I was standing in line to purchase a (much-needed and well-deserved) bottle of wine after listening to the album that I heard Caracal being advertised on The Edge. My darkest fears were confirmed; Disclosure had said goodbye to the captivating synth two-step rhythms and spine-tingling vocals and leaned towards a more mainstream market, focused on making money instead of music.