Disclosure is a electronic music duo from the United Kingdom consisting of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence. The siblings grew up in Surrey, a county just southwest of London. They released their first single, “Offline Dexterity,” back in 2010, when Guy was 18 and Howard was only 15 years old. Considering that most of their immediate family had done music professionally at some point of their lives, it makes sense that the siblings started young. The single was followed up by an EP, Carnival, which was released in July 2011. Their next single, “Tenderly/Flow,” was released in January 2012 and picked up the bulk of their national radio support. In June, Disclosure released their second EP, The Face, to critical acclaim. Their remix of Jessie Ware’s “Running” was very popular during the summer of 2012 and was even included on the annual edition on Annie Mac Presents, an electronic music show on BBC.
Then in October, their next release, which is probably their most well-known, was the single “Latch,” an extremely catchy and dubstep inspired electronica track featuring guest vocalist Sam Smith. (You’ll have to excuse the terrible pun, but this is where I got “latched” onto Disclosure, and I have a feeling many other Disclosure fans would say the same.) This was their first song to enter the UK singles chart, starting at the 26th spot and peaking at number 11. “Latch” spent a total of 15 weeks within the Top 40 and sold over 200,000 copies in the UK alone, certifying it silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In addition, it was stated that this track would be on their upcoming debut album.
Another track, “White Noise” was released from the unreleased album in February 2013 featuring the electronic music duo, AlunaGeorge, another promising British electronic group. Two days after release, it entered the UK singles chart and climbed to the number 2 spot after three days. Currently, it is in the number 9 spot and has been in the Top 40 for 8 weeks.
Even with their small catalogue and the new unreleased material that I heard at a recent live performance, Disclosure shows a large diversity between tracks. While they are usually defined as house/UK garage, Disclosure also display a wide variety of influences including techno, dubstep, Hip Hop, R&B, soul, IDM, and jazz. However, they are not just copying and pasting the best aspects of those influences into each song. While the siblings are obviously influenced by many sounds, they still are able to create material that has its own unique vibe. Disclosure tracks are definitely not rehashed nostalgia, but are instead something exciting and new.
Their live performances are also an incredible experience. Despite their age, the siblings have started performing all their tracks live, mixing and developing them on the spot and accompanying them with live instrumentation. The very high level of production they achieve in the studio is still present live, but the added experimentation that comes with mixing live gives the tracks a new life.
Just do yourself a favor and check out Disclosure before their new album comes out in June. I have high hope for them. They have so much promise and talent and are going to be huge.
