Review Summary: They are who we thought they were
After hearing Latch 4000 times in malls, elevators, restaurants, on the radio and blasting out of someone’s headphones in the stall over, we are all familiar with what Disclosure brings to the table. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad song by any means, it just so happened to have the right balance of upbeat energy, pop sensibilities and simple lyrical content to be the soundtrack for buying consumer goods, eating a hamburger, driving or taking a dump for the masses. That’s why I was so surprised when I heard this new album from them. Disclosure is the last group I would think to be so progressive in not just their sound but lyrical depth and complexity but yet here I am eating my own words. I mean this album is far too esoteric and progressive to score anyone’s extended pooping session.
For those of you who haven’t raised a skeptical eyebrow at the above statements, I say good luck to you. To quote the somewhat forgotten Dennis Green: they are who we thought they were. What we have here is an album whose goal is quite simple: to be pleasant and inoffensive for as wide an audience as possible. Which sounds like a bad thing. From an artist’s perspective it is, but from a practical perspective, it does it’s job pretty admirably as I was not disgusted or offended by anything I heard. Disclosure to me is a pretty farm girl moving to the big city, with simple charms and dreams to hit it big in the entertainment business. She’s not going to blow you away with anything profound but her pleasant and uncomplicated nature has broad appeal. And that’s what we’re treated to here: a solid if somewhat unchallenging record which will no doubt make it’s mark on mall clothing stores and pop radio.
To the ends it sets out to achieve, the album is actually pretty great, in the way measles is great at infecting the unvaccinated. It’s got a pretty hefty and extensive feature list as Disclosure decided to cast a gargantuan net over the piscine masses, with names like the Weeknd, Sam Smith, Lorde and Miguel serving as prime chum in the water. They all contribute their respective trademark sounds in front of Disclosure’s palatable brand of future garage/house. Some (Pitchfork and those who say the same) point out that the vocal mixing is quite pronounced, and they are absolutely right. But they say it with an air of surprise, which to me, is like faulting measles for infecting people. It was merely the next logical step in considering what Disclosure are trying to do. I think the catchiness and appeal of Latch comes largely from Sam Smith’s vocals, not Disclosure’s beats. So either they advance their own sound in bold and innovative ways and smash all the recognition they’ve garnered with the masses into a wall and live in a box by putting something labyrinthine out (and it’s unclear if they even could) or could continue being popular and making boats of money by putting out something familiar. I just can’t really fault them too much for not being overly ambitious because it was unfair to expect it from them, especially considering the rather conservative sounds they cultivated on Settle. By no means are they a genre defying or particularly inventive group, so for me there’s no pressure for them to innovate; a role they take pretty seriously. In an ideal world, they would be able to blend a unique and progressive sound with a smaller list of guest vocalists but sadly we don’t live there so I'm not going to be overly critical of them on that front.
This partial exoneration of their ambition (specifically the lack thereof) does not excuse them from hiding even further behind the character of the guest vocalists. As mentioned, at least for the singles, they’ve never really been the focal point of the music, but at times on this album the sonic backdrops become just so familiar it’s distracting. They occasionally flash forward with something interesting but anything which could be described as such is usually quick to run away behind something less noticeable or the guest vocals. This is increasingly apparent as the album plays on, following the trend set by many electronic artists today who figure most people aren’t really listening towards the end anyways. The album all just sounds pretty similar, with varying degrees of effectiveness. One of the more noticeable elements of this for me was the lack of any varying pace. It’s ranges from mildly tempered dancy track to moderately tempered dancy track and while it’s okay for what it is, tempo variation would have done some good. The sole exception is the final track, “Masterpiece”, which while isn’t really that good, stands out as something different.
This all being said, once you overcome the fact that this album isn’t really pushing any boundaries and is scarce in variety, what you have is a fairly catchy, solid album. There’s not a whole lot wrong here, as most of the songs are pretty much in the same model we’ve come accustomed to from them. It’s all so recognizable but you have to say they’ve become at least adequate at doing it. The single game is strong again, and “Omen” has infected my brain where it will remain until the blunt force or radio play violently jars it out, even though I know it's not really that good. The vague sexual/love/longing tinted lyrical content is perfect in that it sounds like something people will resonate with but not deep enough to be distracting to the brain. While it takes away from a more astute listener, the formulaic, unambitious route is executed well and end to end.
We got exactly the album that Disclosure wanted to cash in on, low risk, high single potential, relatively pleasant and utterly devoid of ambition or progress. Despite what more refined music critics say, it’s really not the worst thing in the world and the consistency over the length elevates it slightly above contemporaries. While some (me included) will wish that they showed a bit more character and confidence, considering who they are and what they stand to maintain, I don’t blame them for going the route they did. So mission accomplished I guess.
