A “pop chameleon” album that keeps folk, soul, rap inserts and Indian sounds together
«« Play was an album made like direct response to the darkest period of my life. Out of all this, I just wanted to create joy and Technicolor and explore the cultures of the countries where I was on tour ” tells Ed Sheeran to Zane Lowe for Apple Music. «I recorded this record around the world, I completed it in Goa, India, and I spent some of the most fun, exploratory and creative days of my life. It is a real whirlwind of emotions from beginning to the end, it contains everything I love of music and fun that it procures, but also where I find myself in life as a human being, partner and father. The more I get, the more I want to simply enjoy things and savor the crazy and chaotic moments “.
This is how his new album tells him The songwriter of over 200 million copiesthat in a decidedly more joyful disc album than previous contaminas his music without giving up those distinctive features that made it what it is.
The disc starts well with opening: guitar in the foreground, effective melody and rap insert. “I cried on my brother’s tomb / I tightened my wife’s surgeon,” Sheeran sings about the darkest period of her life. Play is not a surprising albumeven if in the end it is his most eclectic work, and effectively represents the sum of the ingredients of the “Sheeran Sound.”
Sapphire and Azizam they are pop pieces of sure rhythmic impact, while Old Phone He reports to the acoustic attitude of the Halifax boy. Which is his true stylistic figure, that of a folk pop singer -songwriter who knows how to speak to the general public. Among the most pleasant things on the album, the delicate blues soul of The Vowperhaps the piece that detaches most from the general atmosphere of the disc, and the soul funk of A Little More. In the context of the most classic ballad shines instead In Other Words.
“I understood that I wanted to do this job at 11 years old When I went to see a concert by Damien Rice with my father. He was alone on stage with the guitar and I thought I could do it too. And now I am inspired for the new generations who come to my concerts ». So it went …
Play, in the whole is a joyful album,
