On this month 9 years ago: Disclosure released debut album 'Settle' [Magazine Exclusive]

In 2013, on the last day of May, Disclosure shared their debut studio album with the world. ‘Settle‘ as a saviour and as an inclusive entity that united musical genres and generations of music lovers.

When their debut studio album came out via PMR Records and Island Records, the brothers who make up the duo Disclosure were very young and had only begun to make a name for themselves in the industry three years ago. In 2013, Guy was 21 and younger brother Howard was 18, but their youth was not reflected in the music they produced, quite the opposite. The Laurence brothers had an old soul, with strong influences and rather old-school musical and cultural foundations. At the same time, they were at the height of their creativity, armed with a forward-thinking ambition. This diversity is the soul of ‘Settle’, the duo’s first full-length, with a potential crossover so strong that it would mark Disclosure’s career and the consumption of electronic music forever.

Back then, the music seemed to have fertilizer, but as it increased in number so did the genres and also the generational gaps. On one hand, we had the older generations, trapped in a revival of the good times of the underground, stuck in a bubble. On the other, we had the younger ones, focused on the growing power of the mainstream.

Disclosure’s incredibly mature talent would get ‘Settle’ to serve as a filter as if the music from both the mainstream and the underground were filtered through Disclosure who would give it back as something more unified and inclusive. Younger generations were alien to disco, dubstep, and garage and were pop experts, and if mixing it all together could seem like an adventure destined to fail, Disclosure showed that music could be recontextualized, offering different audiences a piece of music they could relate to.

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