Round-up: Tracks: Arcade Fire, Disclosure, & More

When Howard and Guy Lawrence speak about working with Lorde on their new album ‘Caracal,’ they place a great deal of emphasis on the truly collaborative nature of the whole thing. ‘Magnets’ isn’t exactly the meeting of two completely opposing poles - more like fizzing electronic osmosis between two similarly minded projects - but it does feel like Disclosure and Lorde have transfigured together into something distinct. Lorde’s previous work on a ‘Switchscreens’ version of Son Lux’s ‘Easy’ gave a clear glimpse into where her minimal pop constructions could venture next; somewhere even more jittering, bold, and punchy. Disclosure, meanwhile, with their established gift for bleeping, crispy, foot-down-to-the-floor dance-angled output, always had the kinetic potential to wind it back a few notches to sucker-punching effect. Tension and slow-burn approach wins out here, and ‘Magnets’ stands poles apart as a clear ‘Caracal’ standout. (El Hunt)

On their 2013 LP ‘Reflektor’, Arcade Fire undergo countless transformations. They morph from a basement-dwelling punk outfit into stratospheric arena- ready giants, making stopovers in Haiti and a disco-obsessed parallel universe. ‘Get Right’, a song that didn’t make the final cut, is somewhere else altogether. A desert sand-covered wrangler, it’s from the same headspace as Jack White’s Nashville hub - the complete opposite of a ‘Reflektor’ gem but intriguing all the same. (Jamie Milton)

BOOTS found himself photon-drenched in the spotlights two years ago, following the most surreal route possible. As a relatively unknown producer, Jordan Asher wound up producing “about 85%” of ‘Beyoncé’. As you do. No biggy, or anything. Despite the enormity - and irreversible bind - of a connection like that, it’s clear that BOOTS is in no hurry to get lumped with a tag reading ‘that Beyoncé guy’. Asher’s produced a fair bit of FKA twigs’ ‘M3LL155X,’ and tracks for Run the Jewels, too. His debut solo album ‘AQUΛRIA,’ meanwhile, comes out in November.

Hypnotic and cyclical, stalking with carefully trained eyes around a stuttering, mechanical beat, ‘Bombs Away’ trades in attack for something more stealthily. Syllables jam busily into one another like Bakerloo line commuters, lines like “I must not resonate, we tessellate our finance,” become disconcerting forces of rhythm in their own right. The most blatantly obvious quality uniting all of BOOTS’ singles so far - ‘Mercy,’ ‘I Run Roulette,’ and this, ‘Bombs Away’ - is that they’re all shapeshifting, genre-colliding, knee-jerking song-orbs. Whizzing away to settle on a totally different planet to Beyoncé’s neon-lit super-star, BOOTS establishes his own orbit. (El Hunt)

Not every Bond theme wins an Oscar, so pity Sam Smith for having to follow Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ in the soundtrack stakes. His ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ effort - co-written with Jimmy Napes for new flick Spectre - lacks the wow factor of its predecessor. Drama lines every seam, Smith orchestrating a doom-and-gloom tale where he asks: “Tell me is this where I give it all up?” If the film plays out like this song, strap into your seats for a miserable couple of hours. Still, ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ matches grand strings with big balladry like a Bond theme should. A donk or two from co-producers Disclosure would have been nice, though. (Jamie Milton)

Winter is upon us. There is no way of denying it. The big coats and scarves are out, and Joanna Newsom’s latest offering seems to only further cement this inescapable fact. ‘Leaving The City’ - the second track to come from upcoming album ‘Divers’ - is like one of those bitterly fresh winter mornings where the cold air whips you around the face and ensures you are thoroughly awake. Adorned with imagery of the countryside, white clouds, and days that are inevitably getting shorter, it encompasses all that makes winter magical; floating along with an atmospheric and utterly refreshing beauty. On first listen it’s also reminiscent of Kate Bush classic ‘Army Dreamers’ - what with all the twinkling harp and intricate off-beat and interlacing melodies - but as ever Newsom stamps her own identity all over the track with her acrobatic vocals and a chorus bursting into a life of its own. It comes after the more jazz inspired track ‘Sapokanikan,’ with both songs pointing towards what is shaping up to be an impressive, ambitious and inevitably pretty stunning fourth album from the multi-talented American musician. It’s good to have her back. (Amelia Maher)

Everyone’s more or less agreed on this one - writing a song with Adele is a Pretty Big Deal. Just a reminder - she’s capable of bashing out a song like ‘Someone Like You’ for the first time while she waits for her bath to run, and can strike fear into 007’s quaking bones by merely rhyming “skyfall” and “crumble”. Combine that formidable talent with another one; the tallest man in music Tobias Jesso Jr. Then, bring it all together into the same room with Sia; the songwriting musician extraordinaire behind Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds,’ . Lets face it, ‘Alive’ was always going to be something a bit special, wasn’t it?

Though ‘Alive’ didn’t make the cut for Adele’s forthcoming album - the original intention - it still surfaces as part of Sia’s own project ‘This Is Acting’. Oh, you know, the place where she puts all her narrowly rejected songs written for global superstars. Though Adele, no doubt, would’ve brought an epic touch, Sia’s vocal rawness and imperfection, in the end, brings the pulse powering ‘Alive’. (El Hunt)

All of Black Honey’s songs deserve their own blockbuster flick, and it’s more evident than ever on ‘Corinne’. Even though Izzy Phillips chants “we live in a movie that nobody else will ever see,” there’s nothing understated about the rest of this new single. Like compressing a dramatic thriller in the space of three minutes, it’s a tale of escapism delivered with enough gusto to send this Brighton lot skywards. (Jamie Milton)

Tags: Arcade Fire, Disclosure, Listen, Features