The Gathering

I want to like Disclosure more than I do. Smooth female vocals are the record's dominant texture, interacting with a range of dreamy and abrasive synth and guitar tones, strings and even trumpet. The tempos and rhythms are as difficult to pin down — sometimes slow, at others, upbeat — covering a wide range, from ambient to groovy to percussively insistent. The moods and atmospheres are equally diverse, from the ominous to the uplifting. There are persuasive, even seductive moments laced throughout the Gathering's tenth record that are hard to resist. But it never settles into any of these moments quite long enough — it's always elusive, slipping away, morphing into something else. In this respect, the longest songs ("Meltdown," "Heroes for Ghosts," "I Can See for Miles") are the best and worst — they're complex and challenging, and as frustrating as they are compelling. In a sense, Disclosure is the perfect cyborg: a seamless melding of organic and tech all contained, barely, in modern indie rock form.