Caracal (10th Anniversary Edition)＜限定盤/Zoetrope Vinyl＞

The Weeknd, Sam Smith, Gregory Porter, Lorde, Jordan Rakeiら多彩なゲストが参加し、2016年にはグラミー賞「最優秀ダンス/エレクトロニック・アルバム」にノミネートされたDisclosureのセカンド・アルバム『Caracal』の限定Zoetrope仕様の2LP。
見開きダイカット・スリーブ仕様。
Zoetropeの各面は当時のオリジナル・アルバムアートワークとキャンペーンポスターに着想を得ています。
カラカル猫とフィーチャリング・ボーカリストのイラストを用い、ディスクが回転する際にアニメーションのような動きを生み出します。

Settle was an unqualified success. Platinum, number one, and nominated for a Mercury Prize in Disclosure's native U.K., it was also Grammy-nominated in the U.S. "Latch," the album's propellant, primed vocalist Sam Smith for stardom. The Lawrence brothers subsequently worked with Nile Rodgers and Mary J. Blige, remixed Usher's "Good Kisser," and released a pair of club tracks that, more than anything else, showed that fame wasn't stalling their productivity. In May 2015, the garage-flavored "Holding On" -- co-written by Jimmy Napes, a contributor to the debut's three biggest hits -- appeared as the first proper single from the second Disclosure album. It neatly integrated additional songwriting input and a lead from Blue Note jazz vocalist Gregory Porter and, like much of what preceded it, was swift and full of friction yet measured and tasteful. Inferior second pre-album single "Omen" outperformed it, most likely because it featured Smith. The contrast between those two singles is a running theme on Caracal, where tracks featuring lower-profile vocalists regularly upstage those fronted by chart-topping stars. Smith, Lorde, Miguel, and the Weeknd provide the album with a lot of star power, not much else. The last-mentioned contributor, for instance, opens the album by singing 100% "on-brand" lyrics that seem generated rather than written -- so much so that they can be summarized as "vampire Weeknd" -- albeit with a thrown-in reference to the wild cat that inspired the album's title. The Lawrences' taste in upcoming talent and ability to assimilate it into their sound, however, is faultless. Fellow U.K. natives Kwabs and Nao are responsible for a pair of irrefutable R&B jams, the vocalists' turns recalling, respectively, James "D Train" Williams and young Deniece Williams atop some of the producers' most detailed and sumptuous work yet. The lighter cuts, most notably the one that features Lion Babe's Jillian Hervey, tend to stick with as much immediacy, and are as full-bodied as the slower numbers. Although the tracks rarely surprise, frequently falling back on familiar sounds and structures -- loping basslines and synthesizer shadings that escalate at the same tempo always arrive on time, for instance -- they're as well-built as those of the debut, and the Lawrences, along with their songwriting partners, cover the ups and downs of falling in and out of love in sharper fashion. ~ Andy Kellman

南ロンドン出身のローレンス兄弟が全英1位を皮切りに世界中を席巻してから2年余り。ディスコ～ブギーの再燃やハウス・リヴァイヴァルといった追い風もどこ吹く風とばかりに完成させた2作目。ヒプノティックなハウスをスクリューさせたかのようなスローなトラックの上を盟友であるサム・スミスの情感がねっとりと溶け出す"Omen"、グレゴリー・ポーターのスモーキーな歌唱を得意のつんのめったガラージで絡め取った"Holding On"をはじめ、さまざまな〈顔〉を見せるトラックが並び、先行シングルとされていたストレートなダンス・チューン"Bang That"の未収録も吉と出たか、全編を包むドープで官能的なムードに確かな成長と成熟が見て取れる。やはりこの兄弟、只者ではない。
bounce (C)野村アリマサ