Ed Sheeran - + (25/10/2011)
Having pursued his career as a singer/songwriter since 2005, this year saw Ed Sheeran burst onto the UK indie scene and earn some well-deserved success. Sheeran’s story is that of a battler, confessing that he has been gigging constantly for the past 6 years to anyone who would listen, even racking up a reported 312 shows in 2009. He found success through posting videos on YouTube and earlier this year released, The A Team, the highest charting debut single of the year in the UK. Now comes his debut record, the originally titled +.
The A Team was a massive hit and turns out to be a good opener for the album. With a ridiculously catchy chorus this is a song that will stay in your head for days. With Sheeran backed by a simple acoustic guitar and piano, it allows his rich and emotional voice, that is all but guaranteed to melt every female’s listener’s heart (and some males too), to shine through. Follow up, Drunk, introduces percussion in the form of hand clapping and with some of the usual boy-loves-girl subject matter. However, it fails to grab you as much as the previous track, without a memorable chorus.
U.N.I is a heartfelt acoustic song which sees Sheeran pulling off some pretty impressive vocals which are sung so fast that they border on rapping, but still maintains a sense of melody and pitch. Wake Me Up sees the first change of direction on the album in the form of a ballad. However with lyrics such as: And I know you love Shrek 'cos we've watched it twelve times. But maybe you're hoping for a fairy tale too, any attempt at a heartfelt love song is instantly lost and comparisons to Justin Bieber start to crop up.
The rest of the album follows in the vein of earlier songs with the obvious theme of young love prevailing throughout. The City features some impressive beat boxing from Sheeran and the first use of electric guitars in a song about leaving school and moving to London. The clear standout on the latter half of the album is the 2nd single You Need Me, I Don’t Need You which has an extremely addictive beat that had me tapping my foot along. However, the song feels a bit over-produced on the album with the acoustic performances I have seen being much more fresh and exciting.
The last track, Give Me Love, sees a beautiful string arrangement and is the most believable song for me in terms of Sheeran’s vocal delivery, ending the song screaming Give Me Love to seemingly anyone who will listen (this also contain a bonus track, The Parting Glass).
After promising so much with a brilliant lead in single and huge hype from the British press, + manages to fall slightly short of my expectations. Sheeran displays some great song writing on his debut record, but it is let down through a lack of consistency throughout the whole album. However, with already a big following in the UK and a reportedly amazing live show, I’m sure this isn’t the last we will hear from him.
Sebastian Betten
The A Team was a massive hit and turns out to be a good opener for the album. With a ridiculously catchy chorus this is a song that will stay in your head for days. With Sheeran backed by a simple acoustic guitar and piano, it allows his rich and emotional voice, that is all but guaranteed to melt every female’s listener’s heart (and some males too), to shine through. Follow up, Drunk, introduces percussion in the form of hand clapping and with some of the usual boy-loves-girl subject matter. However, it fails to grab you as much as the previous track, without a memorable chorus.
U.N.I is a heartfelt acoustic song which sees Sheeran pulling off some pretty impressive vocals which are sung so fast that they border on rapping, but still maintains a sense of melody and pitch. Wake Me Up sees the first change of direction on the album in the form of a ballad. However with lyrics such as: And I know you love Shrek 'cos we've watched it twelve times. But maybe you're hoping for a fairy tale too, any attempt at a heartfelt love song is instantly lost and comparisons to Justin Bieber start to crop up.
The rest of the album follows in the vein of earlier songs with the obvious theme of young love prevailing throughout. The City features some impressive beat boxing from Sheeran and the first use of electric guitars in a song about leaving school and moving to London. The clear standout on the latter half of the album is the 2nd single You Need Me, I Don’t Need You which has an extremely addictive beat that had me tapping my foot along. However, the song feels a bit over-produced on the album with the acoustic performances I have seen being much more fresh and exciting.
The last track, Give Me Love, sees a beautiful string arrangement and is the most believable song for me in terms of Sheeran’s vocal delivery, ending the song screaming Give Me Love to seemingly anyone who will listen (this also contain a bonus track, The Parting Glass).
After promising so much with a brilliant lead in single and huge hype from the British press, + manages to fall slightly short of my expectations. Sheeran displays some great song writing on his debut record, but it is let down through a lack of consistency throughout the whole album. However, with already a big following in the UK and a reportedly amazing live show, I’m sure this isn’t the last we will hear from him.
Sebastian Betten