Album Review: Ed Sheeran – Play
3 min read
If he’s not the biggest musician on the planet, he’s got to be in the top three, surely!? Ed Sheeran new offering is two years in the making, with its Play title moving beyond his previous maths symbol titles, with Ed remarking that it was a reaction to some dark times, wanting some more joyful ‘technicolour’ fun in his world. Released through his own Gingerbread Man label (under Warner records), Sheeran identified a return to “big pop”, so let’s not pause (play-related pun alert) for thought, and dive right in!!
Beginning with the aptly named Opening, and this feels like the old Ed Sheeran, and many many people will be thrilled – it’s a great track, mixing his ‘singing with flow’ (a.k.a. rapping) with harmonious choruses… fantastic. Sapphire swiftly follows, incorporating unmistakable bhangra beats and vocals of Arijit Singh, a concoction that really works, while Azizam is an upbeat joyous hug of positivity, which contrasts with the more solemn country-tinged Old Phone, which gave me a fantastic message that sometimes looking into the past isn’t going to be the fantastic trip down memory lane you might think it would, and flowing back to more bhangra beats woven into Symmetry – a track which is fits nicely into the flow of the album. Euphoric feels come over you when you hear Camera, especially when you realise that this is a track about/to his wife, and dovetails nicely into the slow mover In Other Words.
In total contrast to the previous tracks – and probably my favourite track on the album – we have A Little More, which is a good mid-tempo plucky track about a relationship circling the drain – a situation that many can relate to (not my current relationship though, in case you’re reading this Lisa). Slowly follows, again, reminds me of old school Ed and his slow mover tracks, and Don’t Look Down which has a faint Avicii quality to the instrumentation & synth set up. Going down a little waltz down bluesy street – and in the conversation for my favourite track – we have the fantastic track The Vow, whilst penultimate track For Always is a beautiful love letter to his girls, in a track so relatable to any parent, and we round off proceedings strongly with Heaven – slow beat but good use of synths and auto-tune.
Play is another fantastic album from a truly talented artist. It’s not quite my speed but none the less I can appreciate the artistry involved when it’s well written well produced tracks – which this album clearly has in abundance. I can see several number ones, and despite it mot really my thing I will be adding one or two tracks to my favourites – especially A Little More – fans will love it, as will casuals… and even a few haters will like some of what’s on offer, in spite of themselves!!
