Album Review: 'X' by Ed Sheeran (Deluxe Edition)


Artist: Ed Sheeran
Title: X
Genre: Acoustic, Folk-Pop
Label: Asylum/Atlantic
Release: 23rd June 2014
hits rating: 9/10
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Hey guys,

Great Britain - you land of musical talent...
Has anyone of you noticed that around 70% of all artists/bands blogged are from the UK?
I'm not saying that other artists are not talented, geez, there are so many jewels from all over the world.
But a lot of them are from the British land.

And so is Ed Sheeran.

The singer/songwriter has made himself a name by now and is known as "the guy with the guitar and the loopstation". With his hit single 'The A-Team' the musician slowly but surely made his way to the top whilst casually supporting Taylor Swift on her Red Tour.

His first album "+" (Plus) sold over 4 million times world wide and now Sheeran's here with his new record "X" (Multiply) which I'm going to talk about today.



Tracklist:
1) One
2) I'm a Mess
3) Sing
4) Don't
5) Nina
6) Photograph
7) Bloodstream
8) Tenerife Sea
9) Runaway
10) The Man
11) Thinking Out Loud
12) Afire Love
13) Take It Back
14) Shirtsleeves
15) Even My Dad Does Sometimes
16) I See Fire





Opener 'One' could be classified as what we know as the "typical Sheeran style", soft guitar strumming, soothingly almost dreamy vocals, at times layered and a supporting, barely noticed beat.
Definitely a great track which is one the safe side of the album and absolutely deserves it's spot.

'I'm a Mess' starts off quite simple, just Ed's voice accompanied by rhythmic guitar strums. It slowly builds up during the second chorus and gets more grip, more intensity. I'd say vocally this is one of the best tracks; varying from deeper ranges to middle voice back to emotionally dynamic tones, higher pitches and even some smooking raspy shouts - he delivers it all.

On our journey through the album we also go through quite a gangster atmosphere with a 90s kind of beat during 'Don't'. Head bobbing is guaranteed. Almost wasn't able to write this bit of the review because the song really took control over my movements.

A lot of magic put together so casually.
'Take It Back' shows off Ed's rapping skills, which are really good, honestly. Killer lyrics meet speak-singing and without any signs of overloading with lots of beats, no the singer just used a simple acoustic guitar to support the vocals and belts it out in the chorus.
There's still slow and beautiful ballads on 'X'; 'Tenerfife Sea' for example. You can even hear some lovely piano parts.

To sum it up: A journey through a mass of genres with a lot of lyrical highlights as well as impressive vocals and beats to just dig. His first was called plus, this time Ed Sheeran multiplied his performance. His next record could probably be called x5 if he keeps going that way. Chapeau, Sheeran!

You should listen to these tracks: I'm A Mess, Don't, Tenerife Sea, Take It Back, Thinking Out Loud, Runaway



Ed Sheeran online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube


Thank you for reading!



Credits // Text: Vanessa Jertschewske | Video: joiz CH | Photography & Artwork: Ed Sheeran by Ben Watts - taken from presskit at http://press.atlanticrecords.com/ed-sheeran/

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