Singer
New album from Hozier: an ocean of emotions
Irish musician Hozier played at the Lollapalooza Festival in Berlin’s Olympiapark (2019). With his new album “Unreal Unearth” he wants to return to the big stage. photo
© Gregor Fischer/dpa
Hozier from Ireland releases his third album, “Unreal Unearth”. It combines beautiful lyrics, soft soul sounds, strong rock songs and great orchestral moments.
Four years have passed since his last album, and now Hozier’s third album “Unreal Unearth” has been released. The young Irishman, whose full name is Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, who landed a smash hit with “Take Me To Church” in 2014, is delivering one now too Ocean of emotions – filled with poetic lyrics, beautiful ballads, soulful gospel pieces and rousing rock songs.
Sometimes the disc comes along like a Sting album, it’s particularly gentle on tracks like “I, Carrion (Icarian)”, “Unknown/Nth” and the first part of the opener “De Selby (Part 1)”. Sometimes it’s groovy and downright danceable, as in the second part of the song, “De Selby (Part 2)”, which despite the optimistic disco sound deals with total darkness, named after a character in “The Third Policeman” by Irish writer Flann O ‘Brien.
Songs for heart and feet
Also on the third Hozier studio work there are melodies that are reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel or The Beautiful South, but are pompous. The 33-year-old rounds off some pieces wonderfully with strings, for example in “Eat Your Young”, a song that, in the best Hozier manner, is both cool and loving at the same time – like a love scene in an old James Bond film. Others rock, are rousing. The second single “Francesca” is particularly strong – a piece like the whirlwind that Hozier wishes he could return to in the chorus.
Also “Abstract (Psychopomp)” and the closer “First Light” go loud and straight into the heart and into the feet. With the soulful gospel song “All Things End”, Hozier pays homage to Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, whom he names as strong influences. In an interview with the British Guardian, Hozier explained that “the best singers I can think of are female”.
Hozier’s Irish roots in music
He told the “Irish Independent” that he was very concerned that he was getting so much applause for “speaking my truth”, while Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who died in July, experienced a “very different reaction” for such truths. “I owe her a great deal. I am on a path, a road that Sinéad paved at great sacrifice.” You can hear that on the new record too.
Hozier doesn’t deny his Irish roots on “Unreal Unearth” either. In “To Someone From a Warm Climate (Uiscefhuaraithe)” he uses one of his favorite Irish words: “Uiscefhuaraithe” is Gaelic for something that is cooled by water. Hozier uses it to describe how clammy and cold the winters are in his homeland – and how (heart)warming another person can be in bed.