It is always difficult for bands to produce a second album; the pressure to remain the same, yet different, from their last record is a challenge for all, but most artists overcome and create an album that is “pretty good.” But when your first album smashed records and catapulted you into electronic music fame, it can be nearly impossible to create another record that your fans will accept. Yet, the English duo Disclosure’s highly anticipated sophomore album, “Caracal,” did much better than “pretty good.” Their first album, 2013’s “Settle,” was a conglomerate of different tempos and sounds, extremely indie-electronic and alternative. That record, while a solid piece of music, lacked the unified and uniquely Disclosure sound of “Caracal.”

In the lead up to the formal release of the whole record, Disclosure leaked several of the tracks. “Holding On,” “Omen,” “Hourglass,” “Jaded,” and “Magnets” were all released a couple weeks prior to “Caracal.” Having individual cover art of the featured singers’ faces drawn in the signature Disclosure style, the singles were extremely successful in hyping their newest album. One of the singles, “Omen,” featuring Sam Smith, quickly ascended the charts and to the top of Disclosure’s popular tracklist on Spotify.

If you have ever listened to Disclosure before, it was most likely “Latch,” the song featuring Sam Smith that gave the band mainstream popularity. Their choice to bring Smith back for a track on their newest album was genius; the familiar upbeat, electronic sound of Disclosure and smooth vocals of Sam Smith are a crowd favorite.

Each track on “Caracal” is unique and brings different elements to the record as whole. “Nocturnal,” the first track, features The Weeknd’s signature dark-mooded music, yet catchy and upbeat tempo. “Jaded” has no additional vocals like the rest of the tracks do: instead we hear the rare voices of the men of Disclosure, Guy and Howard Lawrence, which are just as magical as their electronic beats. Another notable track on “Caracal” is “Magnets” featuring Lorde. The 17-year-old Grammy-award winning singer has been under the microscope for her highly anticipated sophomore album; choosing to release a song while her fans are thirsting for new music would undoubtedly make any track she recorded a hit, and “Magnets” is no exception. The song created considerable media buzz for Disclosure and made their new album all the more popular.

However, the entirety of the record does stray from Disclosure’s original, purely electronic sound. “Settle” was greatly based on beats that were often irregular and less electro-pop sounding. The tracks were off-kilter and more alternative than “Caracal”’s upbeat and sing-along songs. Some might speculate about the effects of Disclosure’s mainstream success and its influence in making the tracks more pop-oriented. But I choose to believe that rather than changing their sound for society, Disclosure honed their sound from “Settle” and specified the music they wanted to put out; their style is now innately theirs, and has gained a cohesiveness that “Settle” lacked.

“Caracal” is the perfect record to introduce people to electro-pop, especially the more indie side of the genre; it combines the auditory pleasure of a pop song, with the mentally satisfying, meaningful lyrics Disclosure is known for.