By Julia Difiori
Copy Editor
Amidst the blur of repetitious sounds in “Caracal,” one thing has been clearly disclosed: electronic music duo Disclosure fails to expand its musical creativity on its latest album.
Overall, the album is extremely repetitive and dull due to the overuse of certain electronic instruments and neglect to diversify the tracks. The album is further weakened by its uninteresting lyrics, and it ultimately fails despite its hopeful collaborations with such artists as The Weekend, Sam Smith and Gregory Porter.
Disclosure is comprised of brothers and musicians Guy and Howard Lawrence from Surrey, England. The pair is best known for its remix of Sam Smith’s “Latch,” which was released in the United Kingdom in 2012 and ranked 11th in the U.K. Top 20. Upon its 2014 release in the United States, the song climbed to 7th on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2013, Disclosure released an album named “Settle,” which debuted at number one in the U.K., went platinum and earned a nomination for a Mercury Prize as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album in the States. “Caracal” is Disclosure’s second full-length album.
The central flaw of the album is the static nature of each track’s musical progressions. Most songs lack build-up, leaving them without the dynamic fluctuations that can make electronic dance music engaging.
Furthermore, the songs sound unimaginatively similar to one another because of the frequent incorporation of the same electronic instruments and effects within almost every track. Additionally, he tempos hardly vary throughout the album, which also heightens this detrimental monotony.
On top of the album’s lifeless music, most lyrics are vague and uninventive, leaving the songs with an incomplete feeling. For all these reasons, the album’s songs blend together like lifeless elevator music instead of a collection of varying yet cohesive songs.
Another disappointing aspect of the album is Disclosure’s failure to take advantage of its numerous collaborations with other artists. Despite having the potential to produce noteworthy tracks, Discolusure’s feature tracks lack appeal.
For instance, Disclosure features The Weekend on the opening track, “Nocturnal,” which starts off with a decent beat. However, it drags on for a superfluous two minutes longer than it should, thus detracting from any benefit that this collaboration could have offered the album. Sam Smith follows with a song called “Omen” only to dissatisfy again. In spite of his powerful vocals, Smith cannot add beauty to the unexciting music.
On the other hand, the sole track on the album with merit is “Magnets,” which features Lorde’s signature sultry vocals. This song also contains unique, thought-provoking lyrics and boasts a relatively distinct beat compared to the other songs. Additionally, this track features a wider variety of instruments, which contributes to its pleasant sound.
Although “Magnets” is a notable track, the rest of the album is still insufficient in terms of creativity. The seemingly formulaic songs are more like mindless background music than genuinely creative works. Thus, in spite of the album’s fairly star-studded tracklist, Disclosure’s “Caracal” falls flat and unenjoyable due to its monotonous, uninspired tone and lax lyrics.
Released on Sept. 25, “Caracal” is available digitally and in stores from $7.99.
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