Disclosure – Offline Dexterity review

Brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence unleash their debut release on the world via the illustrious Moshi Moshi imprint. This, for many of you in the know, is no mean feat, from the label who have brought us music from the likes of Kate Nash, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Friendly Fires, Florence & The Machine and James Yuill. Even more groundbreaking, perhaps, considering the pair are but 16 and 19 years old respectively. So – what exactly can we expect here?

A woozy, synth-led, Joy Orbison “Hyph Mngo”-esque entree paves the way for A-Side blinder, “Offline Dexterity”. Glowing melodic progressions, tight beats and simmering percussion dominate the proceedings before falling into a mellower Blakean passage (as in James, not William…natch) with a jittering electronic pattern and itchy bleeps contrasting against the eerie murmuring of vocal snatches. Fear not, warm, harmonious waves of future garage soon return like sounds from another world, returning to a state of transient peace for the remainder of the track.

“Street Light Chronicle”, on the flipside, starts in bittersweet discord and ends on a similar note of anguished poignancy. An intro, which is almost cloying at times, with pitched up “CMYK”-style vox and shimmering atmospherics, is disordered by skittering, jazzed up Kimbie-like touches. It’s enticing stuff. Cooing SFX are paired with woodblock thwacks and a midway breakdown marks a conscious movement towards reflection and mellow contemplation, before the return of the clipped beats and glorious soundwaves from the primary section.

What Disclosure seem to have mastered is the art of a future garage sensibility, but with the heavyweight soundscape of an inimitable dubstep prowess. We hope this is just a glorious taster of more to come from these boys.

Belinda Rowse