EP Review: Hozier - 'Eat Your Young'
Hozier returns with glorious EP Eat Your Young.
Irish sensation Andrew Hozier Byrne is back with a three-track EP, with the promise of an LP later this year.
Eat Your Young follows on from last year’s Swan Upon Leda, which was a stunning, acoustic guitar-led folk track, and was his first new music in three years.
This EP may be short, but it is lacking in no way whatsoever. These three songs all pack so much punch and are expertly crafted.
Opening with the title track, it starts us off with vocalisations and layered production. “I’m starving, darling/Let me out my lips to something/Let me wrap my teeth around the world”he delivers in the opening line. According to Hozier himself, the song is a taste of the 9 Circles of Hell, specifically the third circle, gluttony. However, if the listener didn’t already know this going into the track, then they probably wouldn’t guess it. His gorgeous vocals and rich tone, paired with the impressive, towering production of crescendos mask the dark subject at hand.
The next track, All Things End, is a definite highlight. It’s soulful, heartfelt, and intelligent, much like the rest of Hozier’s discography. “If there was anyone to ever get through this life/With their heart still intact, they didn’t do it right” he tells us. The song writing on this track is Hozier at his best, with deep metaphors entwined with simple yet moving one-liners. The strings take the song to a whole other level, and during the second half, huge backing vocals come in sounding like a gospel choir that is goosebump-inducing.
Closing it out with Through Me (The Flood), yet another sensational, energetic song. Opening with minimal production and Andrew’s vocals, his Irish lilt coming through. Every chorus on this EP is spectacular, and Through Me doesn’t disappoint. The track sees him reflecting on loss; “I looked down into the depths when I met you/I couldn’t measure it” he sings during the pre-chorus.
An exhilarating, euphoric EP, it just further proves that Hozier is one of the best songwriters in the industry and makes the promise of a full length album even more exciting.
Words by Lucy Skeet
