Hozier Forges Ahead on ‘Unreal Unearth’—“To Create Something That is Enjoyed, I Think That is Such a Gift”

In a time when so many “creatives” want to develop their personas, their social media handles, and their brands, all Irish rock musician Hozier wants to do is forge himself. The heady, honest artist is considerate when he encounters a question about who he is and what he does. Hozier (born Andrew John Hozier-Byrne) doesn’t set himself up like a spigot for canned responses. Instead, the 33-year-old is patient and measured. He takes in a question as if he’s asking himself, too, curious of his own response. For Hozier, who earned a Grammy nomination in 2015 for his debut song “Take Me to Church”; success isn’t about accolades, but about opportunity and execution. If you’re free to have a vision and free to follow it, that’s the life to live. It’s also the path Hozier took for his new LP, Unreal Unearth, which dropped on August 18. It’s a trek that involves ancient poetry, concepts of hell and the afterlife, and a bit of charm and charisma, too.

“If you can execute the vision as honestly and as clearly as you possibly can,” Hozier tells American Songwriter, “and you can just follow through with something as purely as you can, something you felt you needed to exorcize from yourself—an idea you wanted to explore, something that you just needed to write—honestly, I think if you can actually follow through with that and stay true to yourself and to your vision, that’s a huge success.”

Given this aspirational philosophy, writing a single song, if done properly, is a measure of success for Hozier, too. Almost a singular unit of it. In doing so, Hozier says, one can connect a song to something personal within themselves. Songwriting explores themes and ideas, subjects, relationships, and emotions. This can’t be done thoughtlessly. In this way, Hozier is a diligent miner, his truths are his precious stones. His willingness is his lit-up metal helmet. Or, to use another metaphor, he is the figure standing on the beach, the water gone from the banks, and now it’s his time to salvage what remains. As such, music, songs, and phrases are discovered—unearthed—more than written. “Sometimes it feels, in the process of writing,” Hozier says, “somebody has somehow dragged the lake and you’re just—you have no choice but to haul it up onto the lake shore. There it is.”

When considering his work, Hozier recognizes the impact his Irish roots have on his conception of art, story, and song. Born in Newcastle, County Wicklow, Ireland, on March 17, 1990, Hozier was exposed to creativity from a young age. Today, while he recognizes that his relationship to his roots is constantly changing, he knows it stays fundamental to who he is. After all, we see our past through the years as if looking through different lenses. But Hozier knows that Ireland and the country’s history inform his outlook always. It offers a “conscience” behind the music, he says. From the country’s literature to its visual art and musicians, like the 20th century songwriter Paul Brady. They’ve found their way “into my work and under my skin,” he says. 

Growing up, Hozier’s parents were artists, too. He has early memories as a young child of his father, still a gigging drummer then, coming home with other bandmates. He also recalls going to live music happenings with his folks. And, of course, music was always playing in the house, from Howlin’ Wolf to John Lee Hooker. Music was “never far from the home,” he remembers. When he was a teenager, Hozier thinks of his mother, who was “very often creating something” and whose creative work helped sustain the family, keeping “a roof over our head.” Hozier calls her “vital.” And her business opened his eyes. Music wasn’t just a lark. It could be a life. 

“That maybe allowed me to view—or it offered me license to view that art could be more than something frivolous or something like a hobby,” he says as if finding this out in real-time. 

When talking to Hozier, the feeling of education is not far. He is a learned fellow. But while he has great respect for schools, it’s also clear he’s aware there are other ways to ascertain worthy information—including in early jobs scrubbing toilets, as Hozier undertook as a teen. He laments recent initiatives in Ireland where schools seem to no longer require history as a compulsory subject. He also wonders if schools spend enough time developing individuals—their unique creativities, their critical-thinking skills. As an artist, especially one that works professionally at the level Hozier does, one has to develop important skills on their own. Who teaches stage presence? Budgeting, small business ownership, proper health on the road? If nothing else, the work weeds out many along the way. 

“For me,” he says of his days shredding, “it was just a case of sitting alone with an instrument. I wasn’t thinking of it at the time, but it was a place where I found a lot of peace and a lot of connection with something.”

Hozier developed his sound from there, one day at a time. It was both what came naturally and what was repeatedly practiced. He followed the process of simply forging ahead. Today, he is known both for a dark, brooding vocal sound, almost like a howling cathedral, as on songs like, “Angel Of Small Death & The Codeine Scene.” But he also has songs where he’s bright and tight. With recording, too, early on the artist sat with the appropriate programs and taught himself. While he’s not the only artist in history to do so, certainly many have fallen by the wayside. Not Hozier. He cares about learning as much as the dividends that come from it. “I just felt that I needed to take the sonic bull by the horns,” he says. 

It’s funny. In one sense, Hozier is a rock star. If he hasn’t headlined every giant festival by now, he’s certainly on track to. Powering big stages with sweat-soaked performances, delivering open-vein lyrics and industrial electric guitar chords. He’s got millions of social media followers and even more millions of streams. But he’s also quiet, and contemplative. During the pandemic, Hozier read Dante and Greek classics. Life can be confusing. But to remain centered in some fashion, especially in a world easily suited to provide yes-person after yes-person, Hozier focuses on the guiding light he knows he can trust solely—himself. 

“I’ve always just tried to be as much myself as possible,” he says. “By that I mean, there’s no character of Hozier, as it were. It’s not so much a persona—I think, for me, it’s whether in interviews or engaging with fans, it’s just: Here’s me.”

It’s not as if Hozier doesn’t know the allure of rushing or of low-hanging fruit. But that’s the stuff he shed in youth, in many ways. Patience is a muscle developed, not given at birth. There is often the desperate urge when you’re young to have it. Hozier, who wasn’t exactly a focused kid in school as a youth, likens it to the hope of seeing stars soar across the night sky, all at once, for you. But you quickly realize, with hope, that such a thing is impossible. There is no point in the urge to rocket toward anything, to burn up in the atmosphere while doing so. No need for catapults. Instead, forge forward, honestly. These are the lessons Hozier learned in his 20s, before he was famous for the haunting track, “Take Me To Church.” 

“I’m glad I was a little bit older when such chart success [found me],” he says. “I was 24 as opposed to being 18. I’m glad now. I enjoy watching my fanbase still growing.”

These days, Hozier is selling more concert tickets than ever, he says. He has fans that have been with him since they were 10 years old. Soon, if all continues to go well, they’ll be bringing their own kids to his shows. If done the right way, your fans grow up and then grow old with you. It’s thanks to this honest approach and the joy Hozier has for meeting his followers that he’s not a flash-in-the-pan success or a one-hit-wonder. He has built a career, complete with progressive charitable causes. Now, with the release of his third LP, Unreal Unearth, he’s adding another substantial chapter. Like many records over the past couple of years, the seeds for Hozier’s newest were planted during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I started reading long-form poems that I always wanted to catch up on,” he says. “I was doing a bit more reading than I always felt I should. Some classic poetry.”

From there, a record shape began. Hozier cites Greek and Roman myths, Dante’s Inferno, and Ovid as some of the works. He dove into these during a time of great uncertainty. A time when the world itself was in a modern hell—on fire with race riots and disease. As Hozier watched death tolls rise, he submerged himself in the classics. In Dante, he read about heads made “dizzy” by loss. He could relate, as could so much of the globe. But there was also something built into much of the literature, that hell was something to move through. As Robert Frost wrote, the only way out is through. Hozier took this structure and these stories into the studio, putting together the songs that would become his new record. 

Today, the music on the 16-song LP resembles a photo album or picture book. The songs are a quilt of styles, from alternative rock to Broadway-like tunes. They address different styles as if addressing different types of people, all of whom are under this unreal umbrella. Hozier says he found all this to be a helpful way to structure the narrative or journey of the record. Going in and out of something we all experienced. So much changed, and so much ground shifted. So many were lost. Sadness combined with a sense of regeneration ensued. And in art—in a strong metaphor—people can find a way to move forward and understand reality. 

“It was an effective way of crediting that,” Hozier says. “Nodding to that experience of a journey through something, without specifically calling it a ‘lockdown album’ or a ‘pandemic album.’”

There are many memorable songs on the new LP, from the swelling “Francesca” to the futuristic and soulful “Eat Your Young.” The album concludes with three songs—“Abstract,” “Unknown” and “First Light”—that give it a satisfying emotional and musical ending. Alluring, emotive and yet stentorian in their way. If you can imagine Trappist monks, the solemn spiritual sort who produce aged cheeses, beers, and other products, pouring their religion into the tangible, then you can picture Hozier and his songs. Pungent, thick works, savory, and spiced with the eternal. His songs, like his thoughts, aged. Such is wisdom. 

Indeed, the artist is always working. Hozier has a six-month tour he’s assembling and more music on his mind, stuff that didn’t fit on the new album that he’ll release also in 2023. There is likely more in the hopper, too. And while Hozier exercises patience and often takes years between records, that doesn’t mean he isn’t always working, tinkering, mulling. Yes, he’s “really enjoying” the time he has now to write and work, to jam and create. He has “one eye on the next thing” and perhaps a third eye on the horizon if you’ll excuse the mystical. But in the end, what Hozier likes about where he is, who he is, and what he’s doing is that no day is the same as the one before it. Nothing is planned out for him, nothing scripted by advisors. The only map is the desire to keep working. It’s the surprising joys of the road that come when you see the world with clear, caring eyes.

“I think there is a sense of openness when you’ve finished a project and come to the end of it,” Hozier says. “On the far side, the sky is fully open and visible. And there is just—you can kind of go any direction.” But a clear highway isn’t as fun unless you have someone to share it and the sports car with, right? “To create something that is enjoyed, and that other people take into their lives and into their worlds and into their internal worlds,” Hozier adds, “be it songs or lyrics—I think that is such a gift. I’m always astounded by that. It’s such a big honor—it’s hard to reflect upon. But it’s such a wonderful thing.” 

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Main image by Julia Johnson

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