REVIEW: George Ezra- Staying at Tamara's

It's time to celebrate! Why? George Ezra has finally released his long awaited second album, Staying At Tamara's. The follow up to the Number One album (in the UK anyway), Wanted on Voyage, Staying at Tamara's is the fun-filled pop record that we all need in our lives.

The title itself has an interesting story. After the success of Wanted On Voyage, Ezra wanted to...erm...take a voyage and one of the places he went was Barcelona. Instead of booking a hotel, he rented a room in a flat. The name of the flat owner that he rented the room from? Tamara!

We first heard a snippet of what Ezra's second album will sound like, when the first single off the album, Don't Matter Now, which was in a similar league of Ezra's previous hit, Listen to the Man, telling listeners not to worry about their troubles. This was followed by the second single, Paradise (no...not a cover of Coldplay). Paradise is typical Ezra, jam packed with guitar sound and a catchy chorus that can stay in your head for days. Well...I had it in my head for days anyway...



Since the release of Paradise, Ezra released other songs over time, in the run up to the release of Staying At Tamara's: Pretty Shining People, which, along with Paradise, is a song that you can't help but sing along to,  Hold My Girl, Saviour, a collaboration with Swedish folk group First Aid Kit, and, released the night before the album got released, Shotgun, which was Annie Mac's Hottest Record of that night on Radio 1.

The thing that's great about this album is that the songs are so varied. The songs range from being upbeat, like those mentioned, to slow relaxing songs, such as All My Love, Only a Human and The Beautiful Dream and I feel that albums should be like this, otherwise they could be seen as a bit boring and lackadaisical.

There are a few downsides with this album but these are little things. Firstly, having revisited Ezra's first album, some may argue that this album seems too much like Wanted On Voyage. However, whilst that could seem negative, there is a well known saying...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Secondly, the album seems to finish too quickly!

All in all, Staying at Tamara's is an album that can, on the one hand, provide songs that you can dance to and, on the other hand, provide songs that you can just chill out and relax to. Either way, this album is perfect to allow you to not let any worries get you down.

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