Today saw the highly anticipated release of Ed Sheeran‘s collaboration EP with Yelawolf. It’s been over a year since Ed’s No. 5 Collaborations Project set the internet alight by peaking at No. 1 in the iTunes online album chart thanks to a huge effort from fans on Twitter.

The Slumdon Bridge gives fans of Ed’s previous rapper collaborations something fresh and exciting to listen to. Yelawolf’s flow is relentless over those looped beats we’ve come to know so well. The distinctively US voice is something we haven’t heard before in this setting, it’s reminiscent of B.o.B featuring with Giggs – a UK voice we know so well suddenly working with someone completely different.

The four track EP has relative consistency, each tracks seamlessly flowing into the next – Yelawolf is impressive as ever, offering a range of spitting intensity whilst Ed keeps the beat together and takes control of the chorus. A very similar blueprint to the aforementioned No. 5 Collaborations Project EP.

You Don’t Know (For Fuck’s Sake) was given away last week and is probably the best track from the four, not to take away from the others. London Bridge is a dark, ascending track which finishes in a surprisingly upbeat manner considering the start of the track. Faces is a chance for Yelawolf to really go wild on a beat, much as Devlin and P Money did previously. Tone wraps up the EP abruptly, a relaxed number finishes the collection of in good spirits.

The triple platinum ‘+‘ (Sheeran’s debut album) was such a commercial success that this free EP is even more satisfying from a fan’s perspective. Right now Ed is riding a wave, anything he puts out is likely to be well received because of his all round popularity. But he refuses to stay on one path, instead experimenting with this release. This underlines how Ed is sticking to his roots, his first five EP’s were all of different genres and it looks as if he’ll be using his wide range of talents for a wide range of musical output for a long time to come.

The EP can be downloaded here.

Text by Dan Kemp.