HOZIER IS BACK!!!!

Readers, forget the post I was going to write, we can discuss comics another day. Today is a glorious day, because after four long years of us politely asking for new Hozier music, that weird Irish elf has reappeared with a new 4 song EP and it. is. bomb. Thus my plans to post yesterday were derailed as I took the evening to absorb this and form a coherent review for you guys. 

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The first song is Nina Cried Power (also the name of the EP). It's part ode to the musical influences that Hozier draws from and part reaffirmation that music is a political art. This is the song that stays closest to what I expected from new Hozier music. It's equal parts Blues and Gospel with a driving vocal performance by guest legend Mavis Staples and will inevitably be screamed by me in my car often in the next few months. It's powerful the way Take Me to Church is powerful, but the emotion is a little more raw. Where TMtC was a call to worship, this is a call to resistance. 

Best lyric: 

Power has been cried by those stronger then me

Straight to the face that tells you to rattle your chains

If you love being free

NFWMB is the biggest departure from what Hozier's style has been. It's deep and ethereal and roomy like it's being played underwater and it's a far cry from the rootsy rock that has formed the cornerstone of his career. It makes me really excited for his new album that is in the works because it shows one of the many possible directions he can go. It also shows off the talents of his producer Markus Dravs (whos previous work includes the first Mumford and Sons album and the only Arcade Fire record I really liked, Afterlife) since this song is weird and experimental but still structured so that it doesn't feel like it's wandering away from the listener. Gotta be honest with you guys, I hate pet names. I think they're either cheesy or condescending or both... having said that,  I would allow Hozier to call me "baby" all damn day.  

Best Lyric:

If I was born as a blackthorn tree 

I would want to be felled by you, and held by you

Fuel the pyre of your enemies

Aaaaaand speaking of things that are super damn sexy, let's discuss the four minutes and sixteen seconds of pure seduction that is Moments Silence (Common Tongue). This is, as they say, a Bop. Capital B. It's this funky, jazzy tune that incorporates these distant high pitched vocals and rhythmic snapping that makes me want to sit in a seedy club smoking a cigarette because that feels like the best fit for the aesthetic. It's also probably the most poetic of the lyrics on the EP, and Hozier uses phrases like "When stunted hammers place with men my mere monstrosity" but by the time the first verse wraps up, the song is clearly about how Hozier is choosing to relieve the tension caused by the current state of the world. And well...

Best lyrics:

What yields the need for those who lead us oh so morally

Those who view the sin we do through their deformity 

Who view the deed as power's creed is pure authority

This moment's silence when my baby puts her mouth on me

The last song is Shrike, and I try not to pick favorites on an album right away but this is the one I felt the deepest the first time through. Is it because it sort of feels like a love song about Will Graham and Hannibal? Maybe. A shrike is a songbird that impales its prey on thorns while it eats them. So using it as a metaphor for himself after a breakup is... beautiful but really tragic. The instrumentation in Shrike is the simplest from the EP. It's just a delicately picked guitar and a string section. It shows off his ability to deliver beautiful music without the trappings of all the layers that he uses on the other three songs. A good album should show the range of the musician, whether the variation comes in tempo or in style. In this case the songs of Nina Cried Power share little more than strong vocals and the reverb that Hozier prefers on his lead vocal tracks, but they still fit together. 

Best lyrics:

Back to the hedgerows where bodies are mounted

Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now

I can't wait for the new album. And I mean that. Please, Hozier, don't make us wait another four years for new music. 

Little C