‘Staying at Tamara’s’ Proves George Ezra Has Staying Power

By Courtesy of George Ezra / Columbia Records

Filled with George Ezra’s soulful, earthy, baritone vocals, “Staying at Tamara’s” is a treat for the ears. The 24-year-old Brit’s distinctive voice blends well with the acoustic guitars and horns throughout the album. On his sophomore album, Ezra plays with a wealth of musical styles and traditions covering American blues, folk/americana, alternative pop, rock, and South African pop. Ezra has taken a step away from the blues reflected in his debut album, “Wanted on Voyage,” and toward a more worldly and alternative sound. The album is named for the owner of the Barcelona-based Airbnb room at which George Ezra stayed while he was traveling and writing the album. The album triumphs as an exploration of George Ezra’s versatility: While Ezra’s unique baritone vocal is his defining feature as an artist, the versatility he displays on “Staying at Tamara’s” proves he has much more to offer.

The album is backed by Columbia records, featuring production by Ezra’s long-time producer Cam Blackwood. Throughout most of the album, Blackwood does an exceptional job of allowing George Ezra’s vocals a space to shine in the production soundscape. Ezra’s voice is never overpowered by the horns or guitars featured throughout the album. On the contrary—the emotional candor in his vocal performance shines, particularly in songs like “Hold My Girl.” His bassy, oak-scented, and sincere-sounding voice is transfixing with its endearing wiles. The production effectively amplifies the tone in his voice, building on the emotional tension by holding back and giving space in the production for vocals.

The playful bass lines, coupled with light horns and frolicing vocals, call to mind traces of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” The similarity is most poignant on songs like “Shotgun,” and “Get Away,” which feature deep bass horns, syncopated drums, and light and playful guitar.

The collaborative track “Savior,” featuring First Aid Kit, bucks the thematic trend of the album: “Savior” is Ezra’s brief return to alternative folk-rock. While Ezra has listed artists like Bob Dylan and Woodie Guthrie as, he performs “Staying at Tamara’s” in a more modern, alternative pop style. On “Savior,” George Ezra and First Aid Kit harness a delightful natural compatibility between First Aid Kit’s lighter yet fierce tone and his own bass vocals—demonstrating a more emotionally urgent timbre to his voice.

Closing out the album is the trance-like ballad, “The Beautiful Dream.” Similarly to “Savior,” the track diverges from the rest of the album in instrumentation, theme, and even genre. The track is filled with light, atmospheric synthesizers, and a rare high-register performance from George Ezra. In [T]his dreamy summer day anthem about unrequited love, Ezra laments, “Is the grass of Eden overrated?” The lyricism on “The Beautiful Dream” and throughout “Staying at Tamara’s” is well developed and builds on complex themes to create a textured, nuanced feel. Each song is very much its own, and is filled with a relatively wide vocabulary and thematic scope.

On his second album, George Ezra proves he is an artist capable of versatility and panache. He adapts his distinctive voice to a variety of genres and styles, and succeeds in producing music that is both his own and not defined solely by his unique voice. The album is a testament to Ezra’s staying power, not just as a fleeting, interesting vocal talent, but as an artist whose music deserves to be heard and reflected upon.