Hozier: “Take Me to Church”

Andrew Hozier-Byrne, better known as Hozier, hails from Ireland but sings with the voice of a man born to the American South. The Deep South. In his first EP, Take Me to Church, Hozier completely offers himself up to his craft, proving his passion and power as a true artist and, in turn, allowing those empowering sentiments to be absorbed by those of us who listen to him preach.

Without playing too much into its namesake, the multitude of emotions that lace his discussion of love with life and death, against the dark hazy piano melody, is addicting in every religious sense of the word.

“Take Me to Church” is sweet yet sinful, taking the dominance of love to greater heights by explicitly stating the madness that it can create the actions it can make us do and the actions we allow ourselves to forgive. On top of that, Hozier admits to the thirst for that madness when love ends. This confessional-lyrical style is nothing new, but Hozier’s approach reinvigorates the vulnerability of a musician, especially when he croons, “Good god, let me give you my life.”

Hozier shames 1990s German trance music by conquering it sans electro-pop. The tempting nature of his sound is exacerbated by his reverential vocals, which seem to harmoniously link each track of the EP in the smoothest of demeanors. So much so that it could be considered cultish, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves; it is his debut after all.