by Maddie Bimonte
Hozier is back again after a four-year hiatus with a brand new EP: Eat Your Young.
The lead track, “Eat Your Young,” which had been teased for weeks on TikTok, immediately grabbed my attention. The snappy drum beat paired with the instrumental strings made it sound like it came from a movie score; mysterious and groovy. The complexity behind the lyrics kept me guessing the subject matter and made me want to keep listening. Hozier, in my opinion, is one of the best lyricists in current pop/alternative/indie music. It’s almost not fair to categorize him in a certain genre because his sound is uniquely Hozier.
In the second song of the EP, Hozier introduces a new sound unlike anything I’ve heard him do before.. Heavily influenced by gospel choirs, which began in Hozier’s music on his last EP, Nina Cried Power, the song “All Things End” builds slowly, with a pleasant, sweet-sounding ballad. Closing with a heavy, beautiful choral arrangement, Hozier once again meshes gospel into his EP, keeping younger listeners interested in such a beautiful genre.
Opening organ/piano chords on the closer of the EP, “Through Me (The Flood),” harkens back to the style we’re used to from Hozier. The first verse echoes the phrasing of songs like “Take Me To Church” or “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene.” But in a flip of the script, the chorus takes on a style we’ve seen more on Wasteland, Baby, his last studio album.
The most interesting aspect of Hozier’s music is the flexibility in which you can describe the meaning of his songs. As Hozier’s music primarily draws from literary or classic history and interweaves some political commentary, you could make a case for his songs to be just about anything.
The merging of his previous work with new fresh tweaks has made this EP a favorite listen of mine this year. Hozier plans to release more songs throughout the year ahead of his tour, and boy, am I excited to see where this album will take us.
