Drift away from the stomp and holler-adjacent origins of Hozier and hear how he hits out at lost loves and life on the road with these leftover pieces of Unreal Unearth. His monumental third record was filled with the same adoration for life he always lays out, his instrumental clarity a true gift to the lyrical scrapes of mythologically influenced experiences. Triumph over inevitabilities. Death is no match for the heart and for Hozier, it means penning songs which pair lovers well after their demise. There is a strange comfort in this and for Unheard, four wonderful leftover tracks which did not quite fit the third album, quality is assured. Slick and wholesome are the tones Hozier hopes for. He hits a tone which elevates his lyrical quantities, the daily coffees likened to what he loves in life.
Such simpler tones strike a chord not just because of their imitable effect but the intimacy displayed through acts of everyday affection is at the very core of opener Too Sweet. When an artist releases the spare bits and pieces of a successful record, as Blur did for The Ballad of Darren, we must ask not where they fit on the wider work but how they feel together. Hozier maintains a tonal structure like no other for these four tracks, though the wilted Wildflower and Barley is more an instrumental exercise than a fully-fledged beauty. Allisson Russell has some exceptional vocal work mixed in there too, and it becomes an invariable high when paired with stellar work in mixing two strong voices into a patch of wonderful, well-strung sounds.
The same can be said for Empire Now, the cracks and stomps a little more in tune with the early years of the Irishman, when Take Me to Church was clambering up the charts and the self-titled debut was just a twinkle in the eye of the tall musical titan. Empire Now is an exercise in historical undertakings, a sweet and common theme for Unreal Unearth which may have held a surplus to requirement had it taken on Empire Now too. But on its own, isolated and released as part of the Unheard batch, it finds new life and brings about a sense of longevity in the face of a world where tearing down love and accomplishments can be done at the click of a button. Hozier is aware of the modern world and sounds disgusted by its breach of peace and returns instead to the tranquillity of nature, staying there with those who cling to his music as an escape.
Rightly so. There are few better artists to lean back into a receptive and informed view of the world than Hozier. His closer, Fare Well, feels like a shock piece of finality to a period of artistic flair which has guided him back into the hearts of listeners. Given his track record, it may be some time before the world hears new Hozier works, and Unheard, along with some rereleases of his first two records and a show at Finsbury Park, could indeed be a farewell. But if Fare Well is the goodbye it seems to be, it is a direct thanks to those who listened intently to Unreal Unearth, and those who did will find more of the same exceptional flourishes of seasonal writing and emotive displays on Unheard.
