Gig review: Disclosure, Edinburgh

Although the quality of the music varied, it was impossible not to warm to artists who can turn a suburban concert hall in Edinburgh on a Wednesday night into the Slam Tent at T in the Park for a couple of hours.

The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh

DISCLOSURE

CORN EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH

* * * *

Disclosure, aka Surrey-raised brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, have proven to be Britain’s premier dance music crossover act of the past year, although refreshingly this show saw them concentrate on a sound which favours their dance background to a much greater degree than pop.

With the pair orchestrating two hubs of keyboard equipment and occasionally the odd analogue instrument like a bass guitar, they were often dwarfed by the lightshow pulsing away behind them. It was an unashamedly club-ready set aimed at getting the crowd as hyped-up as possible, which made the gaps between tracks and the different sonic textures as the set occasionally wandered into generic EDM filler slightly idiosyncratic. The clubbing traditionalist may have preferred the music to flow rather than stop-start.

Yet at their musical height the duo are undoubtedly canny pop producers with a clear appreciation of dance music’s history and a resounding ability to conjure an emotive hit. Early in the set the bigger hits When a Fire Starts to Burn and F for You offered acid house-tinged variations on gospel and funk, while the recorded vocals of collaborators AlunaGeorge, London Grammar and Sam Smith brightened the synthetic, bass-heavy soul of White Noise, Help Me Lose My Mind and Latch. None are innovative, but all were compelling.

Seen on 05.03.14