Basically by rule, pure dance albums are not meant to be listened to in headphones. You're supposed to hear these tracks EQed through a DJ's board and pumped out a stack or three as you scuff soles on a dance floor. And when you hear it that way - with or without some substance help - it's far removed from the headphone sound.
This can make it difficult to gauge how "good" a dance album can be when you take it away from its proper environs. Can you make enough different and interesting beats to make an album that's an enjoyable listen at home, where the flashiest dance move might only be a toe tap?
English duo Disclosure have come pretty close to doing just that on "Settle," a debut that has gone to No. 1 on British charts and peaked at 38 thus far in America. So there's little chance of denying their mass appeal. Given that the closest I usually come to this musical circle is dance rock like Franz Ferdinand or mash-ups with danceable elements like Girl Talk, I'm in new territory, but I had to see what the fuss was about, and if that appeal reached me like it has so many others.
Instead of going sample-heavy, Disclosure opted to stuff their album was guest vocals. Eight of "Settle's" 14 tracks have a credited feature in their titles, and those turn out to be the album's strongest tracks, typically. "Latch," "White Noise," "You & Me" and "Help Me Lose My Mind" are all stand-outs and feature guest vocals from Sam Smith, Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge, Eliza Doolittle and Hannah Reid of London Grammar, respectively. They also form a set of bookends, sandwiching a midsection of the album that loses most of the momentum the first handful of tracks establish.
"Stimulation" pulses and buzzes, but never really goes anywhere. "Second Chance" has a chopped vocal sampling that doesn't really seem to jive with its mishmash of backing instruments. "Grab Her!" manages to be fun, but suffers from the same affliction as "Stimulation" in that the track never takes you anywhere, and so you're left to float in sound that just becomes background ambiance after a couple minutes.
Pardoning the less-than-stellar midsection, there's quite a bit to like on "Settle." The album mixes it up, but not quite enough to keep some tracks from blending into the background and losing bits of interest. There are a handful of tracks I'll come back to - I enjoy the hell out of "Latch" - but it might take a dance floor and a host of attractive people to get me into the rest.
Grade: 7.0/10
