After a highly anticipated wait, Hozier released a new EP on Friday, March 17 ahead of a new album which, according to his official Instagram account, will arrive “late [this] summer”.
This three-song EP is another masterpiece from the Irish songster, and no one should be surprised by how good this is.
He sticks with the folk, soul, and blues genres, a recipe that pairs so well with the religious and literary themes in his songwriting.
These new tracks emphasize his masterful, specific, and sometimes complicated songwriting techniques that inspire the listener to key into the lyrics to fully understand what he is saying. Very few artists can bury a message or story beneath lyrics as well as Hozier does.
“Eat Your Young”- 8/10
This upbeat song is a great way for Hozier to kick off his new era, and much like songs from his previous albums, this one has religious undertones. Exploring the sin of gluttony several times throughout the song, he starts by incorporating sexual undertones with the traditional understanding of gluttony.
“I’m starvin’, darlin’/ Let me put my lips to something/ Let me wrap my teeth around the world”, are the first lines in track one. This is a reference to a different kind of eating, the artist hinting that he is gluttonous for his significant other.
Hozier scrutinizes a different type of gluttony, corporate greed and capitalistic welfare, in the chorus when he says “Skinnin’ the children for a war drum/ Puttin’ food on the table sellin’ bombs and guns/ It’s quicker and easier to eat your young.”
Once again, Hozier writes about deep and complicated issues in our society with masterfully written lyrics but hides them under a catchy beat, begging the audience to listen more carefully.
“All Things End”- 10/10
The theme of this song is not nearly as complicated as the track that comes before it, but Hozier once again pulls at the heart strings of his listeners, singing about how painful life and love are if you do it ‘right’.
Verse one gets to the point of the song quickly, he sings “If there was anyone to ever get through this life/ With their heart still intact, they didn’t do it right.” The verse turns sadder, ending with a quote from the other party, “We didn’t get it right, but love, we did our best.”
He compares life’s intentions to dry sand in hands, evoking the imagery that, no matter how hard we try, everything will slip through the cracks in our fingers and eventually end.
Throughout the song, Hozier sings of how nothing we do in life is certain or permanent, but we should not be mournful over the ending of things. Instead, he takes an optimistic view on this concept, saying when we “begin again”, we should keep the same “plans” we had before.
At the two minute and 40 seconds mark, the song reaches its culmination when Hozier, accompanied by a full backing choir, repeats the lyrics, “And all things end/ All that we intend is built on sand/ Slips right through our hands/ And just knowing/ That everything will end/ Won’t change our plans/ When we begin again.”
“Through Me (The Flood)”- 8.5/10
In an interview with People Magazine, Hozier reveals he wrote this song early on in the pandemic, when the majority of the population was isolated from one another. This song is a reflection of that isolation from the perspective of an astronaut in space and someone grieving the death of a loved one.
The astronaut in this song is overwhelmed by the view of earth from the vastness of space and suddenly realizes how small and insignificant the world is. The astronaut is so overcome by what he sees, he is newly aware he cannot survive life on his own.
Verse three introduces the agonizing and lonely feeling of losing a loved one, as Hozier sings “Picture six feet freshly dug/ The sharp temporary walls/ At the long-term cliff edge of the world.”
Although he notes that the grave (the funeral) is a temporary sight, death is permanent and forever.
Like so many other songs in Hozier’s discography, the sadness of these words are beneath a beautifully structured track that will sometimes make the listener forget how devastating his lyricism is.
In addition to dropping an EP and announcing his first album since 2019, Hozier revealed he will be touring from June to November of this year. His tour will come to Chicago on September 12 at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, with special guest Madison Cunningham. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 24, at noon Central Time.