Disclosure announce upcoming album, release title track in ‘Energy’

Disclosure’s new album, Energy, is set for August 28 release on Capitol Records.

Besides Guy Lawence, one-half of the brotherly duo Disclosure, conducting a live stream for Boiler Room, the Grammy-nominated UK duo have been using quarantine to construct their latest album. The two have been separated by oceans during the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped them from putting the finishing touches on Energy, their new album out on Capitol Records that the two brothers hinted at a while ago.

The comprising brothers, Guy and Howard Lawrence, also shared the title track and accompanying video. The clip is their first official video in five years. As the titled track to the forthcoming LP, “Energy” pits a raucous rhythm from an album of Brazilian library music against cut-up samples of Eric Thomas, the hip hop preacher whose words memorably appeared on 2013’s “When a Fire Starts to Burn.” Thomas gives the whole album a kind of manifesto: “Look! Where your focus goes, your energy flows. Are you hearing me?” The Kid Studio-directed video gives props to the underdog. The undeniably feel-good visual counteracts these somber times – and perhaps even serves as an illustration of uncanny foresight into the predicted post-lockdown baby boom.

“When we found Eric many years ago, he was like a goldmine of inspirational quotes and motivational speeches,” Disclosure explain in a press statement. “Even if he was speaking to a room of five, it was like he was addressing a stadium. He has an immense presence and energy about him that translates so well into music – especially house music. This time, we cut up various speeches to make something that makes sense. What he says is basically the whole concept for the record, that’s why it became the title track.”

Through an epic process of creation and distillation, the path to producing their shortest, most direct album – 11 songs, 39 minutes – ran through around 200 tracks: everything from drum loops to fully-realized songs.

The brothers also recall, “The thing that decided which songs made it and which songs didn’t was that one word: energy. Every track was written really quickly. That’s why we had to write so many songs because those ones don’t come up every day. Or every week. Or every month.”

Energy will also be available on vinyl, CD, and cassette. Pre-order the album here.