Today is St Paddy’s day, Hozier’s birthday, and the day of the Eat Your Young EP release – a day for celebration!
The songs appearing on the EP are Eat Your Young, All Things End and Through Me (The Flood).
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, professionally known as Hozier, announced that a new album would be coming our way in early 2022 and now, after a long wait, it is finally time to dive into the much anticipated pocket-sized poetry collection.
“ I’m starvin’, darlin’. Let me put my lips to something, let me wrap my teeth around the world. ”
‘Eat Your Young’
And poetry is exactly what Hozier is giving us. He proves once again that lyrics are as much a part of memorable songs as the musical element. The songs are full of storytelling and harmonies.
Every song is different, but the cohesiveness of the release is undeniable. Eat Your Young is feral, it’s raw and hungry. It’s everything you want from what can only be assumed to be the hit single of Unreal Unearth, the soon-to-be-released album.
Lyrically, Hozier is nothing short of a genius. Alluding to literature and biblical images is a trademark of his song-writing, but it can always be enjoyed on a superficial level where personal salvation, hell and desire connect fans alike.
Additionally, Eat Your Young features a heavenly 45-second instrumental sequence at the end of the four-minute long song, that, like a snake consuming itself from its tail, starts the song all over again in a never-ending loop. It is a song that should be listened to on repeat.
All Things End offers a window into Hozier’s melodic Sunday blues and a gospel choir most befitting the reassuring lyrics of the song: knowing that all things must end should not change the way we go through life.
“If there was anyone to ever get through this life with their heart still intact, they didn’t do it right”
‘All Things End’
And lastly, an ode to storytelling: Through Me (The Flood). Endurance after loss and death is the theme of the pandemic years and this is the aftermath of that.
In October 2022, Hozier unexpectedly released Swan Upon Leda, to much acclaim, in response to the women’s justice protests in Iran and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
It is not a new Hozier we have been given: it is the return; it is simply just more of the man. The songs are distinguishable from previous albums, however, this is a new era of reflective and inspiring song-writing in response to a collective experience.
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and similarly, the judgement of the album should not fall on the EP release – but everything sounds promising and we are all starving for more.
Hozier announced the 2023 album tour of Unreal Unearth will go on sale on March 24. More songs from the album will be released during the next few months with a full album drop by the end of the summer.
Featured Image Credit: Press
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