Lacking one good reason:
George Ezra’s Budapest, the single that broke the Hertfordshire singer-songwriter in 2014, has already achieved the status of a classic, but perhaps overly worried about becoming a one-hit wonder he seems keen to distance himself from that song’s downbeat charms.
Instead, Staying at Tamara‘s is clearly intended as a party starter, with almost all of the songs based on bombastic choruses and driving basslines: Paradise (the chorus of which cheekily cribs from Budapest) even has crowd call and response vocals.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t entirely play to his strengths. Ezra most distinctive asset, his deep and rich voice, is better suited to romantic balladry than Coldplay-esque stadium fillers. Softer tunes such as the opener Pretty Shining People and the Paul McCartneyish Human stand out amongst the bangers which, all following a similar formula, are difficult to tell apart, and the album passes by pleasantly but indifferently.
This review first appeared in the Belfast Telegraph
James JW Robinson 