It’s always a good time to be a Hozier fan.
In 2013 we all took notice. The world was introduced to ‘Take Me To Church’, a beautiful song with depth and poignancy that made us all sit up. In the next decade and change we’ve had three albums, a handful of EPs, and two tours to NZ – with the third one happening this month. Welcome back Andrew Hozier-Byrne. Thanks for making Aotearoa a regular stop on your tours, you are Too Sweet to us.
A discussion of Hozier is a discussion of Art & Literature. It could be said art is a reflection of the Unseeable and Unknowable Universe. Beauty, grace, and soul are all impossible to quantify in any real way; creative expressions can not be ranked or judged objectively against each other. But it’s really fun to do … so …
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of his debut album Hozier, I’ve officially ranked Hozier’s 10 best songs. This list is 100% objective and accurate (and if you don’t think it is, please email my editor not me.)
Let the countdown begin!
10: Work Song
Right from the release of Hozier in 2014, it was clear that he had two modes perfected: big riffy rock anthems, and ghostly dark spirituals that feel straight from the 1800s. ‘Work Song’ is one the latter.
Don’t be fooled by the deviously romantic chorus – it is a drunken wolf in sheep’s clothing. This track is a haunted spiritual that tricks you into thinking it’s a love song. Good luck not falling under it’s metronomic spell. Hozier is a story teller. He creates whole worlds of backstory and canon that can be felt through the first person narration. I can get lost wandering around ‘Work Song’.
9: All Things End
The most hopeful break up song you’ve ever heard. Someone fancy once said something about it being better to love and lose than to never love at all, and Hozier has picked that up and ran with it.
“All that we intend is scrawled on sand that slips right through our hands. And just knowing that everything will end should not change our plans when we begin again.”
That’s some grandma wisdom right there.
But if I’m being honest, ‘All Things End’ makes my list purely for the final 30 seconds when all the instruments drop away and the track goes full Gospel Choir. He’s always been Gospel inspired, but here he finally lets it take over.
8: Nobody’s Soldier
Maybe I’ve been listening to too much Amy Winehouse lately, but I can’t help picturing her belting this empowering banger out.
Unreal Unearth was my favourite album of 2023, and then he just kept adding to it. ‘Nobody’s Soldier’ kicks off the Unaired version of the album that keeps finding new audiences. It’s forward facing, propulsive, and easily his best Hype Up song.
7: Eat Your Young
Let’s get freaky now. It was either going to be ‘Eat Your Young’ or ‘Abstract’ to take the #7 spot, and it was decided by two words – “Get Some”.
Hozier’s never been scared of sharing his political beliefs. He’s a passionate man with a talent for creative social commentary. ‘Eat Your Young’ is a big middle finger to everyone who believes in profit over everything.
The lead single of Unreal Unearth, this funky little track snuck onto the Top40 charts in NZ in 2019. Hozier’s falsetto dances rather than strains over top of strings that bring to mind the capitalist tightrope walk of TV’s Succession. Anti War Profiteering has never sounded so good.
6: Someone New
At the risk of insulting him, happiness is not the emotion you generally associate with Hozier. He’s never fully let pure joy and pop delight take over for an entire song – but ‘Someone New’ comes the closest. (If you ignore the connotations of infidelity and the vacuousness of love)
Sometimes you just want to put on a feel good song and let it do it’s job.
5: Too Sweet
The surprise sensation! This was song that took Hozier to the top of the charts this year. It’s simple, repetitive, and impossible to get out of your head. I’ve heard scientists are working on a vaccine for that bass riff because it’s so infectious.
A showcase for Hozier’s impeccable melodies – the chorus of ‘Too Sweet’ should go straight to the Pop Hall Of Fame.
4: Shrike
Fun fact: a Shrike is a bird that is known for impaling insects on the thorns of the trees it calls home. So that’s a cute metaphor to build a song around.
The stand out from 2019’s Wasteland, Baby!, ‘Shrike’ pairs Hozier’s voice and acoustic guitar and that’s all you need. You can hear the man’s longing, his melancholy, his introspection filtered through grotesque nature. It’s the brutal yet delicate dichotomies that we love about Hozier. His songs are literature.
3: First Light
‘First Light’ is Hozier’s biggest song – not in popularity, but in size scope.
Kicking off with an opening harpsichord, the song continues to grow and grow, bursting into a cathartic volcano of spiritual delight. He’s said it is a reference to the finale of Dante’s The Divine Comedy (which is also a superb description of Hozier’s music as whole), and it’s the perfect finale for Unreal Unearth.
Soaring, climactic, cinematic – ‘First Light’ is an all time great.
2: Jackie And Wilson
Hozier is not afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve. Because he knows he’s not a rip off, he’s got nothing to be ashamed of.
Regarding the great R&B singer Jackie Wilson, Hozier told NPR in 2014 “He’s a big influence for me, he’s fantastic. I think Elvis was the white Jackie Wilson, rather than any other way ’round.” It’s a testament to his talent that a kid from Ireland, born in 1990, can transcend time and place to become one of the most respected and authentic Soul and Folk voices in the world.
If you somehow meet someone who hasn’t heard a Hozier song, ‘Jackie And Wilson’ is a great place to start.
1: Take Me To Church
Because of course.
‘Take Me To Church’ is more than a song, and more than an anthem. It’s a rallying cry for humanity, a visceral denouncement of the Catholic Church, and just the beginning for a great artist.
Many lesser musicians have buckled under the pressure of a world shifting debut song. Odds were on that Hozier would be a one-hit wonder, always trying to match the success of his first hit. I mean who could possibly top the line “She’s a giggle at a funeral”?
Instead we can look back and see that ‘Take Me To Church’ was a foundation for an artist who had plenty more to share. The incredibly tall Irishman had more turns of phrase to flow from his pen, and many more human experiences to distil into musical form.
Over a decade after it’s release, Hozier is gifting us his best music yet. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
