Hozier just has depth. Not only in the pools of those lovely dark eyes and the conflicted leading man looks, but in the rich near mysterious sound of his Irish blues. Irish and blues are not often words that you type together but Andrew Hozier Byrne of Wicklow somehow soaked up Muddy Waters and Nina Simone from the wet rain of the Irish east coast. (Wet rain, it is a thing. The Irish have 11 levels of rain… apparently.) But it’s not all gloomy skies in Hozier’s musical landscape. There’s the sunny influence of Motown and Gospel as evident in Hozier’s biggest hit “Take Me To Church”. The chorus is almost…ceremonial. The messages behind the whisky dipped songs are pretty hefty to Take Me To Church” takes a stand against the Catholic Church and its intolerance towards homosexuality (the video depicting Russian criminalization of the same delivers a real gut punch) and “In a Week” is basically about laying down to die on a field somewhere (“I have never known hunger like these insects that feast on me”…yikes!) but what speaks to me in these songs is the unassuming point of view. Hozier has plenty to say, but does so with private conviction. Believe or don’t believe, it’s there for you to take as you will.
And did you see Annie Lennox’s and Hozier’s spellbinding duet at the 2015 Grammy Awards? If you ever needed any proof of the alchemy of music it was soaring on stage that night.
For your weekend tunes play (at least) Jackie and Wilson, Take Me To Church and From Eden.
Images: Google, Billboard.
