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Taken together, they make an intriguing examination of musics practical applications.
I have to write songs, Sheeran explains at one point.
Makes me feel better.
A number of the songs were written the day Seaborns tumor was discovered.
(It was successfully removed after the birth of their second daughter.)
The fifth installment in a series of calculated pop gestures is a conscientious bookend to the early-adult soul-searching ofPlus.
It is the sound of that innocence crumbling.
We spend our youth with arms and hearts wide open, he sings in End of Youth.
His songs arent regurgitations; theyre reductions and extractions.
His foot stays on the gas, gunning it toward the middle of the road.
Subtractis at war with the tendency to smother a record in the stuff most people would want to hear.
ButSubtractcan also feel labored and inelegant.
End of Youth needed a little more time in the oven.
The missteps are frustrating; this guy can nail this kind of material.
But its also deadly effective when he gets you in his sights.
Its more admirable to struggle to talk through your problems than to pretend theyre not happening.
Its difficult to plan around your day imploding on top of you, but everybody must.
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