GRAMMY®-nominated duo Disclosure released their new album, ‘ENERGY’ (Capitol Records) – the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Caracal’, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and topped the U.K. Official Albums chart.
To celebrate the album release, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence unveiled the official video for “Birthday” featuring Kehlani & Syd and welcomed fans into an immersive meta-verse within Minecraft inspired by the vibrant world of ENERGY. They also announced a series of 2021 European/U.K. tour dates. In addition to this abundance of activity, it’s just been announced that Disclosure are part of the newest line-up for the BBC Radio 1 Residency, which brings listeners into the world of the biggest names in dance music from across the international club spectrum. Disclosure’s residency will air on BBC Radio 1 every second Monday of the month, beginning September 14. The remarkable Kid Studio-directed video for “Birthday” finds both Kehlani and Syd squished into intricate, tiny doll houses, singing about the uncertainty of whether it’s cool to call each other up to offer birthday wishes after some time apart. Look out for the excellent puppets of both artists in the closing scenes as you watch “Birthday” HERE. With a confident yet sultry swagger, “Birthday” digs deeper in an R&B sound that the brothers brought to the forefront of their repertoire around their second album, Caracal.
With the help of design collective Blockworks alongside Island Records, Disclosure has created an immersive meta-verse within Minecraft, inspired by the vibrant world of their new album. Fans can join Disclosure’s dedicated server in the video game and discover a square mile of glorious hills, roiling streams and dark caverns, made up of 100 million blocks, all of which come together in a stunning mosaic to replicate the earthy ENERGY cover art. For more information and to play the game now, head HERE.
In the lead-up to the album’s release, Disclosure unleashed the carnival-infused “ENERGY” featuring Eric Thomas, the hip-hop aural assault of “My High” ft. Aminé and slowthai and the uplifting “Douha (Mali Mali)” featuring Fatoumata Diawara – all of which showcase the versatility and innovation harnessed by these two young, London-based songwriter and producers.
The album is bookended by its two most established artists. Kelis kicks things off with the charismatic breakbeat romp “Watch Your Step.” For the breezily reassuring final track, “Reverie,” Howard Lawrence and Common throw rhymes back and forth: the first time the veteran MC had ever written lyrics with someone else. Additional guests include Mick Jenkins, Channel Tres and Cameroon’s Blick Bassy.
Esquire noted, “A percussive, hip-hop inflected embrace of global music…it’s fun as hell.” “The electronic duo’s third album returns to the beckoning grooves of its debut, and benefits from a diverse roster of guest vocalists,” said The Wall Street Journal, which praised “Watch Your Step” as “a glimmering slice of 1980s-inflected disco” and hailed “Douha (Mali Mali)” as “a fizzy sparkle of a tune that demands to be heard in the sunlight under a blue sky.” In a four star review, Slant Magazine praised the “combustible, richly layered party record” and noted, “ENERGY demands your attention with inviting, joyous beats and its vocalists’ direct appeals.”
The journey of releasing this album has taken many twists and turns as the pandemic re-shaped the world as we knew it. Like water cutting new tributaries through the landscape or slowly eroding the edges of our lands, Disclosure have carefully and consciously navigated their path to this point. Where playing live became non-existent (a huge outlet for electronic and club music) – they selectively embarked on livestreamed DJ sets to connect with fans and help transmit the new music into their locked-down lives. Sessions of note include Boiler Room, R1 Big Weekend & Dance Weekend, Earth Day and their own Kitchen Mixes, live and direct from Guy’s kitchen. The most recent of these was their set from the epic Plitvice Lakes in Croatia for Cercle in partnership with Amazon Music, which pulled in impressive live numbers at the time of broadcast and reached two million views on Cercle’s Facebook within a week.Watch the Cercle set in full on YouTube HERE. This year marks 10 years since Disclosure debuted with the single “Offline Dexterity.” In that decade, Guy and Howard Lawrence, who are still in their 20s, have released two albums – Settle (2013) and Caracal (2015) – clocked up 5.1 billion streams and 4.8 million album sales, received five GRAMMY nominations, sold 500,000 tickets to their headline shows and topped festival bills all over the world. Both of their full-length albums topped the U.K. Official Albums chart and received GRAMMY nominations for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Settle was named the No. 1 dance album of the decade by Billboard. A pair of EPs – Moonlight and Ecstasy – followed.
