"Take Me To Church" by Hozier

Holy Jean Jacket And Scruff: Andrew Hozier-Byrne, a.k.a Hozier

Hey guys, Lia here with a song by Irish musician, Hozier.

The discovery of Hozier is another one of those internet phenomena cases that just happen without any warning. Andrew Hozier-Byrne was the son of a musician and always loved music. He pursued his love of music at Trinity College, Dublin, which is a really beautiful college in Ireland that is famous for housing tons of ancient manuscripts, maps, and music. In his short stint at Trinity, he joined the Trinity Orchestra and got involved with Anúna--Ireland's national choir. He recorded some demos and toured with the group after dropping out of college in his first year. He has done two original EP's, Take Me To Church EP and From Eden EP, but will be releasing his eponymous solo album in September of this year. The title track of his first EP, "Take Me To Church," went viral on YouTube and Reddit. It hasn't charted in the U.S., but went all the way to number 2 in Ireland. 

From the few songs I've heard from Hozier, he seems very honest and genuine. There's something very unpracticed and raw about his music. Also, I love how he has a slightly classical background, both in music and vocal performance. I can tell his familiarity with Irish folk music affects his songwriting because he writes with folk, soul, blues, and rock in mind. He takes the best from each genre--the Irish folk Goltraí lament vocal style, the soulful bass, the blues-y minor chords, and puts it together in an indie rock package. Hozier also emotes like nobody's business. His vocals are on point and bursting with feeling, which is not surprising considering his involvement with Anúna. His songwriting is excellent and exploits his strengths, a telling sign that his short stint at music school did the trick. 

What I really want to talk about, what I always want to talk about, is the lyrics of "Take Me To Church." Because, let me tell you, if I was queen of anything...okay, fine, it would probably be Ignorance or Innocence, but an extremely close second would probably be Subtext. And there's a lot of it in this song. "Take Me To Church" is just this huge metaphor that compares the love felt between partners/lovers/significant others to religious worship. There's very few things I love more in the world than extended metaphors so I hope this doesn't get too long. I have a lot of favorite lyrics in this song so I'm just going to go verse by verse. The first verse is Hozier describing his lover almost like a saint--a crusader of truth and authenticity. It's quite sacrilegious, the way he describes her, because as he is praising his girl, he grows weary of his actual religion. She's a temptress, pulling him to believe her words and question his own religion's teachings. In the chorus, he fully worships her and abandons conventional religion. He calls her love a "deathless death," possibly referring to the french phrase for orgasm, "la petit mort," meaning "the little death."

In the second verse, he finds happiness in worshiping his lover and questions the arrogance of the religious establishment. He also fully embraces his blasphemy by calling his lover "the Goddess." Hozier goes so far as relating his worship for her with the pagan practice of sacrifice. He brings her something "shiny"--maybe jewelry or money--and something "meaty"--a reference to flesh sacrifice. In the bridge, his blasphemy is complete. He accepts his imperfections and faults. His worship of the girl makes him realize the purity of his humanity. He is clean because he is human and he believes himself to be good. It is unlike Christian religious doctrine which recognizes the original sin of Adam and Eve or the belief that we are born with that blemish.

I tremendously enjoy the depth of this song, both melodically and lyrically. This song is pure poetry and I can't wait to hear what else Hozier comes up with. Please watch the music video because if you still don't think this song was real, the music video is even realer. 

Rating: 4 Records

Photo: nymag.com
Information: Wikipedia, Anúna Official Website, rock.genius.com