Hozier

[Flowerbomb 65,594]

Wasteland, Baby! will be released 1st March! If you preorder the album now on his homepage, you will get a chance to buy tour tickets for the European leg earlier than others! European leg will be autumn/winter 2019 - dates will be up later. (The green shade for the vinyl is sooo pretty...!)

 

His new song Almost (Sweet music) is FANTASTIC in my opinion - go and check it out now!

 

He also revealed the track list:

Nina Cried Power (Featuring Mavis Staples)

Almost (Sweet Music)

Movement

No Plan

Nobody

To Noise Making (Sing)

As It Was

Shrike

Talk Refined

Be

Dinner & Diatribes

Would

Sunlight

Wasteland, Baby!

 

So 14 songs in total! Unfortunately it seems that NFWMB and Moment’s Silence (Common Tongue) aren’t on the album.

 

I will update later with his comments on the album from questions sent by fans on Instagram story.

 

Nice tracklist! I'm sad NFWMB won't be on there, since it's my favorite from the EP but nevertheless, I can't wait!!

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Nice tracklist! I'm sad NFWMB won't be on there, since it's my favorite from the EP but nevertheless, I can't wait!!

Same, NFWMB was my favorite, I played it all fall. I guess I have to buy the EP too now...

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

From Hozier's instagram story, Feb 16th 2019:

• He looks forward to play Dinner & Diatribes, Nobody and Almost (Sweet Music)  live because they're "fun"
• The artwork for the album cover is made by his mother again ♥
• Booker T Jones has been working with him for 6-7 of the songs
• Almost (Sweet Music) was the hardest one to write partly because it's the most personal one
• Favorite lyric line of the album is from Wasteland, Baby!, from the chorus: "Be still, my indelible friend // You are unbreaking, though quaking, though crazy // That's wasteland, baby"
• All songs were written in 2 years-18 months
• He describes Sunlight as "big, coral(?), redemptive; it's one of the happier ones"
• To Noise Making (Sing) will be referencing and sample one of Seamus Heaney's poems

--------------

I'll just drop this here as well:

 

[aiddy 171]

can't wait to hear the album! the new song is amazing. 14 tracks is a good length, I'm kinda sad NFWMB and Moment's Silence (Common Tongue) aren't on the album but at least we have the EP

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

can't wait to hear the album! the new song is amazing. 14 tracks is a good length, I'm kinda sad NFWMB and Moment's Silence (Common Tongue) aren't on the album but at least we have the EP

I have the standard version of his debut album but I’ve always wanted to deluxe version so I gotta but that, and now I guess I have to buy NCP EP as well and then the new album in March. And then Lana as well.

I guess I will stay broke this year too.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Lyric video for Almost is out!

 

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

North American tour dates are out! Check his homepage if you’re interested.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Hozier was on the talkshow Skavlan the other day and omg, I screamed when I saw him on my TV screen, I had no idea he was on that night. Anyway, these are some of the things he said during the show:

 

- His family (ancestors) is Catholic but his parents raised him as a quaker

- Take Me To Church is more about what people with power say about God and how they use that to control others for their own benefit

- As a teenager, he describes himself as the "class' clown", and "a bit of an unfocused student", "I just messed around a lot"

- Dad was a drummer in blues bands, so he grew up with blues and gospel and has always liked jazz as well

- Wasteland, Baby! is a doomsday album but also has hope. The title track (Wasteland, Baby!) is about imagining the worst thing that could happen. "[...] let's say, imagining the end of the world, trying to look for the warmth center of the human heart... something that can be enjoyed even in the last brief moments."

- Movement is about dancing, "If you could imagine that the singer is watching somebody they love just being enraptured by sound and moving to it. It just tries to descripe the appreciation of that, in its simplest forms, I suppose."

 

See Hozier and band perform Movement and TMTC here:

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Hozer and Mavis Staples describes how Nina Cried Power was made in this 15-minute podcast (20 if you include the song itself): http://songexploder.net/hozier

I recommend listening to it if you're curious to know more about it and how it came to be, really interesting (at least to me). It's fairly short for being a podcast so I won't bother writing down interesting things in a list. Also, you'll hear the demo of NCP if you listen to this podcast. A less worked on instrumental and different lyrics.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

European tour dates are up! Note that he'll also play in Greece. https://hozier.com/european-tour/

 

If you pre-order Wasteland, Baby! on his official store, you'll get access to pre-sale tickets.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

NEW SONG IS OUT!!! Dinner & Diatribes

I AM LOVING IT Go and give it a listen!!

https://open.spotify.com/track/0IZ5R6Om6SWXxJ5BD7MKUa?si=E58GgvxHQSuZrS6M_LEDvQ

 

https://youtu.be/Iq5gesj6kmw

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

The Irish Times made a track-by-track review of the album and gave it a 4 out of 5, but writes that it would’ve gotten 5 stars if it weren’t for two songs they’re considering to be fillers. Overall, a positive review!

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/hozier-wasteland-baby-track-by-track-review-of-his-new-album-1.3791141

[TRENCH 15,450]

will be seeing him in a month.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

will be seeing him in a month.

Aaaah omg, have fun!! The band is really great! <3

[TRENCH 15,450]

Aaaah omg, have fun!! The band is really great! <3

 

I had to find a playlist of the setlist cz I only know of take me to church.. my BF is the one who's into him... im sure ill like his music by then 

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Wasteland, Baby! will be here in a few days, whoooop!! Anyone else excited??

@@Nobody was kind enough to share a Reddit page with me where you can ask him a question! Thank you! https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/av2p75/hozier_wasteland_baby_ama/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=popheads&utm_content=t1_ehc7x24

 

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

You can hear Wasteland, Baby! in the background while he unpacks the vinyl. It sounds so soft! I thought it would be harsher.

 

Video:

   https://twitter.com/Hozier/status/1100425257310187521

   https://www.instagram.com/p/BuWdcFfAFbG/

Lyrics: I think a verse can be heard in the video but I can't hear all the words, so I guess I'll have to wait until Friday to hear them

And I love too

That love soon might end

And be known in its aching

It's shown in the shaking lately

Of my wasteland, baby

Be still, my indelible friend

You are unbreaking

Though quaking

Though crazy

That's wasteland, baby!

 

 

He has also shared lyrics of No Plan and Talk Refined on his Instagram.

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

He just shared a tease of To Noise Making (Sing) - it sounds almost like a pop song to me?

 

https://twitter.com/Hozier/status/1100485652628402176

 

You don’t have to sing it right

Who could call you wrong?

Put your emptiness to melody

Your awful heart(?) to song

You don’t have to sing it nice

But, honey, sing it strong

At best you’ll find a little remedy

At worst, the world will sing along

So, honey, sing

Sing and sing and sing…

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Interesting things from the Q&A on Reddit:

 

 

Q:  How do you hear a new song you're writing in your head? Does it start with lyrics first, or a melody, or do you kind of have a backbone of what something would look like before you go into the studio?

A: It can be either. Sometimes it can even be both together, which is great! More often than not, it's a melody that words fall into. Sometimes it's just words on their own that have to find a home in music, which is a little bit tricky. There's no right or wrong when you're writing

 

Q: What's the coolest place you've gotten to record or write music at?

A: I think a serious highlight of recording for me was working with Mavis at Chicago Recording Company. That was a day I'll never forget, and a total dream. On this record also ,we borrowed loads of equipment and miked up my piano at home. It was great to record in your own spot, messy as it was.

 

Q: As one of your African American fans I really love the fact that you credit the black artist that inspired you. How important is it for you to give credit to those artists?

A: For me, I got into blues music as my first point of musical education. And then from that, I discovered all other loads of music that came after that... how blues became rock and roll and how gospel music secularized into soul music. You can really see that with Sam Cooke and The Soulsters. You don't have the modern canon of popular music without black artistry, so it's just a case of being aware of that and naming it where you can.

 

Q: What is the best place, time, and occasion to listen to Wasteland, Baby!

A: Wherever dread creeps in, baby!

 

Q: Can you describe Almost in one sentence?

A: I would describe it as a song about what music does to memory or does to the experience of memory and what memory does in return to the experience of music.

 

Q: Are there any songs like Jackie and WIlson or It Will Come Back on this album?

A: Yeah definitely. Sometimes you write a song and you characterize it to yourself as a sibling song to something you've written before. There's a song on this record that has a spirit similar to "Jackie & Wilson," maybe sonically. And "It Will Come Back," the best sibling song for that is "As It Was," which I suppose is a song about returning.

 

Q: What was working with Mavis like? She seems so amazing!

A: Mavis is hands down one of the greatest people I have ever been lucky enough to meet! She has an amazing presence and is incredibly generous with her time and with her spirit and with her talents as well. I feel very lucky and very honored that she joined me on "Nina Cried Power." She's a super important artist who embodies everything I was trying to write about on that song.

 

Q: Hey hey hey. Who tf is your inspiration?

A: Hey hey hey. I'm big into the Leonard Cohens, Tom Waits, and Paul Simons of the world.

 

Q: Ever coming to India ? Or even Asia? Like anywhere in Asia?

A: I would love to. I'm really looking forward to spending a bit more time on that side of the world, but it's something I'm really hoping to do over the next while.

 

Q: If you weren't a world wide known singer, what do think your profession will be, if you had chosen a different path?

A: I might've ended up trying to study Psychology. I think it's a good thing that I ended up in a creative field though

 

Q: how many songs didn’t make it onto the final track listing, and why didn’t they?

A: I'd say a good 5 or 6, possibly more that just didn't even reach producers

 

Q: Which song is the hardest to play live?

A: Dinner & Diatribes was a real challenge to learn how to play and sing at the same time.

 

Q: What's your favorite detail from the album art?

A: I think the flowers floating in the water is really lovely and the reflection.

 

Q: What do you do to kill time between shows on tour?

A: You'd be amazed at how much little time you have to yourself. Between soundchecks, interviews and everything else. In the dressing room I might set up a little keyboard or a guitar and try to play but most of your time you're busy. You're also always catching up on sleep as well

 

 

[Beautiful Loser 48,865]

Less than two days now!

 

"Celebrate the release of Hozier's new album Wasteland, Baby! live from the YouTube Space in New York City."