In 20 years of reviewing albums, I thought I was pretty thoughtful in doing so. Then I listen to Hozier’s new EP with my four-year-old son. Here’s how the first 60 seconds went.
Who’s that guy?
What’s this song called?
Is he sleeping in dirt?
Why?
What’s this song about?
What’s this song called? (again)
Is that the guy who’s singing? (pointing to the album cover)
What’s he singing about?
Does he like robots, too?
What’s this song mean?
Is he touching his arm? (again pointing to the album cover)
What does that (the title) say?
What does Unheard mean?
He likes coffee like you, daddy?
I don’t like coffee, does he like waffles?
What does this song mean?
I like this song.
What’s this song called? (a third time)
I want to know what this song means.
He left with “I like this song,” and went off to go play with his Duplos. As I listened to the EP from the start and loved it. To answer a couple of my son’s questions:
Hozier’s opening track, “Too Sweet,” spins the tale of a free-spirited night owl whose partner implores them to go to bed at a reasonable hour. As someone who also goes to bed far too late whose wife needs a full eight hours of sleep, I get it.
The lyrics are well-written, but the track is produced so damned well. It’s rare that a song rocks the bells. Like, actual bells, not the LL Cool J song. The bells add extra atmosphere to Daniel Kreiger’s punchy basslines that drive the whole song.
Next up is “Wildflowers and Barley”, a duet with Allison Russell that has a tinge of nineties nostalgia. What sounds like a love song is more of an allegory of the utility of stillness. The poetry of fallow fields being overrun with wildflowers and the “usefulness of dirt” is trademark Hozier, as is the ease in which his songs can make you feel feelings you can’t quite describe. I could get my grandparents to listen to this EASY.
“Empire Now” sounds like a track from an outlaw biker show set in the South. The twangy guitar (also from Daniel Kreiger) really conjures images of both struggle and determination that match Hozier’s fulsome vocals as he looks to the future. Music supervisors everywhere have added this to their music libraries.
“Fare Well” ends the EP with a weird hippie-sounding downer. Shit tons of reverb makes the track feel like a campfire singalong in a campsite bathroom. While the entire track is filled with metaphors about how screwed he is, he also claims “I’ll be alright.” That seems to encapsulate what tons of people have felt the last few years. “I am so fucked. It’s fine.”
Overall, “Unheard” is Hozier being Hozier, belting lyrics that make you think to understand them, surrounded by tremendously interesting musical arrangements that are just catchy enough to tap your feet.