Ezra’s latest release, “sober cigarettes”, is a song that doesn’t roar into the room—it smoulders. With Scarlet House stepping in as the featured artist, the track becomes more than just a mediation on longing and restraint; it turns into a dialogue, a shared confession wrapped in smoke and silence.
At its core, sober cigarettes is Ezra’s story. His delivery is fragile but deliberate, each line cracked at the edges as though it might break under its own weight. It’s kind of vocal performance that feels less like performance and more like disclosure, drawing listeners in with its raw intimacy. The production mirrors this vulnerability. The percussion, fain reverb, and soft ambient textures leave just enough space for every pause and exhale to carry meaning. The restraint makes the song feel close, like a secret being shared in confidence.
Scarlet House’s feature elevates the track from reflection to conversation. Where Ezra aches with restless craving, Scarlet’s voice answers with clarity and steadiness, grounding the song with a subtle but commanding presence. His delivery doesn’t simply complement Ezra’s vulnerability; it complicates it, pushing back just enough to feel like an opposing force. The interplay sharpens the track’s central theme. Ezra embodies the voice reaching for escape, while Scarlet House provides the echo that refuses to let the moment drift away. Together, they give form to the push and pull of addiction, desire, and clarity.
The track “sober cigarettes” captures the contradictions at the heart of the song: indulgence and abstinence, escape and confrontation, smoke and sobriety. The lyrics circle these tensions without offering resolution, leaving the listener in the same restless space as the singers. Rather than unfolding as a clear narrative, the track sketches moods in atmospheric strokes—regret, craving, release—creating something that feels universal, as if it could belong to anyone’s late-night reckoning.
What makes the song work is the chemistry between Ezra and Scarlet House. Their voices don’t simply blend; they collide and converse, turning the track into something alive. The production enhances this effect, giving silence as much power as sound. And at the heart of it all, the metaphor of cigarettes—fleeting, burning, vanishing—becomes a perfect symbol for comfort that never lasts and consequences that always linger.
Sober Cigarettes is a haunting slow burn. Ezra offers a vulnerable, stripped-back performance that feels personal, while Scarlet House adds grounding and depth. Together, they transform what could have been a lonely confession into a dialogue about desire, clarity, and the smouldering spaces between. It’s not a track designed for charts, but for quiet drives, sleepless nights, and the hours when silence weighs heavier than words. Like the smoke it invokes, it lingers long after the flame goes out.