hello all! we’ back and catching up to the present for Hozier’s discography with his 2023 release, Unreal, Unearth.

Unreal, Unearth has an absolutely killer opening. De Selby (Part 1) is quiet and contemplative, and ends in Hozier singing in Irish – foreshadowing a bit of his performances and lyrical themes later in the album, and De Selby (Part 2) is an excellent song relating a romance to darkness and exploring that space. massive fan of those two as a way to open the record. First Time is another entry in Hozier’s list of bittersweet love songs, and absolutely knocks it out of the park. the strings here are saccharine and sweet, smothering the parts of the track where the romance eclipses him (the shift in understanding that the loves is awakening to the ending where something coming alive recontextualizes the earlier choruses is great), and Hozier’s singing performance here is lulling, calm. its real good! Francesca has an absolutely killer chorus – really enjoy that song too.

the middle run has some nice bits but is less outstanding than the front or back – i dig Hozier’s collab with Brandi Carlile on Damage Gets Done. All Things End is a very stirring track – ending with that choral segment kicks ass.

i do really appreciate the ending of the record thematically, but Butchered Tongue was the only song in the back stretch that really spoke to me.

i also wanted to note that, in a way i havent heard on his prior records, Hozier appears to be hiding less of his accent – he includes that passage of Irish in De Selby, and then addresses language directly in Butchered Tongue.

last this i wanted to mention is something i missed on my listens – there is a connection here to Dante’s Inferno, with the songs on the record progressing through thematic material connected to Dante’s circles of Hell. neat throughline! i think its a cool parallel to the themes of exploration of self, of surfacing from darkness and quiet, and of the role that other people and romance especially play in that journey.

on the whole, neat record, and definitely my fave of Hozier’s releases.

faves – De Selby (Part 2), First Time, Francesca, All Things End, Butchered Tongue
dislikes –

Unreal, Unearth – 7/10

next week, i’ll be back starting a new discography – this time, it’ll be Nirvana!


first: Hozier | previous: Wasteland, Baby! | next: who knows!

all my reviews for Hozier