As per the AUS230 Learning Outcome 01, the requirement is to critique the technical and musical aesthetics of two different styles/genres of music or soundtrack. I’ve chosen to discuss the two studio albums of UK brother’s Howard and Guy Lawrence, known as Disclosure. Both albums clearly represent different intentions in styles of music in the way they have been produced. You can see below how this reflects in their album artwork as well. One is quite innocent, childlike and playful, however the other is dark, serious and intense.
Their debut studio album ‘Settle’ was released on 31st May 2013 and despite the mixture of influences the genre is labelled as ‘UK Garage’ and ‘Dubstep’. The intended audience reflects this genre and was the style that fans initially associated with the name ‘Disclosure’. Their second studio album ‘Caracal’ was released 25th September 2015 and is also labelled as ‘UK Garage’ and ‘House’ however leans towards the laid back slower pace ‘House’ genre. In terms of production I personally think Caracal is of a much higher standard, however the duo have been criticised by fans for not sticking to their original style as portrayed in the debut album ‘Settle’. ‘Caracal’ to my ears, offers more layers and technical detail in terms of how they’ve processed sounds and produced more complex synth patches and sound envelopes. Again to my ears, the album as a whole sounds as though it’s been mastered to a higher standard as well. Below is a link so you can have a listen to the style of their debut album ‘Settle’.
The debut album ‘Settle’ features well known tracks such as ‘White Noise’ which includes the smooth vocals of Aluna George and ‘Latch’ featuring the outstanding falsetto of Sam Smith. Most of the tracks on this album sit between the 120-130 BPM mark which is fairly typical for a garage track. It’s that uptempo energetic feel that gets you out onto the dance floor in a club or festival environment. I went to see their Australian tour for this album back in 2014 and to say the least, the crowd was certainly bouncing throughout the entire show. As the album features collaborations with a number of well-known and upcoming vocalists, 9 in fact, the album became extremely popular amongst not only Disclosure fans themselves but also fans of the featured vocalists. Below is a link so you can have a listen to the style of their second studio album ‘Caracal’.
‘Caracal’ released two years later during 2015 was a slightly different scenario in terms of production and whilst all the true fans know how to appreciate anything these brilliant artists produce, there is quite a percentage of fans and critics who would disagree with the direction of their second album. Here’s an example of what one fan had to say…
“The general consensus seems to be that Caracal is “underwhelming”, to which I unabashedly say: “oh, horseshit.” Pick any one of its 11 tracks and press play (I suggest “Superego” feat. Nao), and tell me it’s not better than 90 percent of whatever’s playing on your radio.” (Bein, 2015)
In my opinion, the overall feel of this album is far more laid back and relaxed, quality not quantity I would suggest, and by that I mean there’s a tonne of quality production techniques used as opposed to quantity ie. how many similar sounding garage tunes with repetitive hooks can we pump out in one album. Once again there are a number of collaborations, 10 this time, again with well-known featured vocalists and this made for a brilliant promotional tool in the months leading up to the release of the album. This time Howard himself is featured as vocalist on 4 of the tracks, which even with his limited vocal range, turned out to be quite impressive.
This brings me to my final point which is that ‘Caracal’ features as little as only 2 Garage based tracks, that being ‘Holding On’ and ‘Echoes’ as opposed to ‘Settle’ where about 50% of the album is Garage focussed. So you can see here a clear shift in style and aesthetics when comparing both albums. I was lucky enough to see them again during their ‘Caracal’ tour in January this year and even though I absolutely adored every second of the show, I could see the general crowd weren’t dancing and bouncing anywhere near as much as they did during the ‘Settle’ tour and I think this is a clear reflection of the change in style and aesthetics between the two albums.
B N J M N 
October 16, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Great write up, man! Thanks for including us in the reference.
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