hozier releasing new songs at the start of september is how hades welcomes persephone back

Having a campfire with Hozier on a chilling autumn night would be a spiritual experience

Person: "What's your favorite Hozier song?" Me: "Yes."

One of the best moments of my life happened because of this song. It was nighttime and my best friend and I were driving through the Rocky Mountains and listening to music. I played this song and we rolled down the windows and sun roof. Looking at the millions of stars framed by mountain tops gave me a realization of how big the world is, and how small my struggles are. Listening to this song, feeling the cold mountain air, smelling the pine trees with my best friend was the most pure, beautiful thing I’ve ever felt. Thank you Andrew.

Is it even possible for a mortal to compose art so divine?

This song makes me cry at sad memories that don't belong to me.

This song has such strong “Ireland” vibes it make me just want to swim across the ocean and build a whole new life there in the ruins of a old fortress once occupied by kings.

A shrike is a small carnivorous bird, also known as the butcherbird. The shrike catches its prey, insects and small vertebrates, and then impales them on any sharp point it can find, and then tears the flesh from the prey.

Hozier has finally returned after spending a few years in the woods with the nymphs and elves. He's blessing humanity with new music

Bruh. The comment section is the purest comment section I've ever read. No hate, but just love. HOZIER CAN MAKE PEACE IN WHOLE WORLD!

Nice to see the forest god Pan has let his most musical son out to mingle amongst the mortals again. Hopefully Hozier will stick around long enough to release some more music, but hey, those faery vineyards aren't gonna tend themselves.

In Indian folklore there was a singer called "Tansen", who could sing "malahar" so well that he'd summon rain storms and fires by his voice... now I know what those rain storms and fires were in the hearts of the listeners ... Hozier has the same effect.

Do you reckon Hozier is a Siren? I don’t own a boat but if I did I’d shipwreck it in a second to hear his voice 🧜‍♂️

No one in mainstream music is doing anything close to this. Hozier is on a tier of his own.

"thus transformed by your grounded and giving and darkening scorn" is one of the most beautifully balanced and lovely lines I've ever heard.

This song came out last year, exactly 3 months after I was sexually assaulted. I had struggled with coming to terms with it. I hadn’t told anyone because I felt like if I told someone then I had to admit to myself that it had happened. I’ve always loved Hozier so when I heard he had a new EP coming out I couldn’t wait to listen. When I heard this song for the first time something happened, I couldn’t stop crying and listening to it over and over again. I know this song has nothing to do with assault, but the words made me think about what happened. The person that did this to me was important to me and after it happened I felt broken, but this song some how made me come to peace with what had happened. So I just wanted to say thank you for creating this incredibly beautiful and powerful song, and thank you to all the beautiful people in the comments writing about how this song made them envision themselves sitting next to a cozy campfire or standing on a mountain. It all made me feel so free. I know this is a really weird comment to make, but I just wanted to say thank you.

He has returned from eden

this song is my favourite in the entire EP. It makes me feel like I'm wearing a white sundress, my blonde hair tied up in flowers, in my kitchen making biscuits while my husband sings in the living room. I'm not even blonde. Nor married. Nor do I have an oven.

Lyrics: I couldn't utter my love when it counted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now And I couldn't whisper when you needed it shouted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now The words hung above But never would form Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn Remember me love when I'm reborn As the shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn And I had no idea on what ground I was founded All of that goodness is going with you now Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted All of my goodness is going with you now Dragging along Following your form Hung like the pelt of some prey you had worn Remember me love when I'm reborn As the shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn I fled to the city with so much discounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now Back to the hedgerows where bodies are mounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now I was housed by your warmth But I was transformed By your grounded and giving And darkening scorn Remember me love when I'm reborn As the shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn

The instrumental gives me the Old-Irish music vibes.. I'M INLOVE..

makes me want to dance barefoot in the woods and lay on the ground with the love of my life and let the tree roots grow over me. his music makes me feel nostalgic for memories i don't have of things i haven't experienced yet.

This is poetry,so glad to have his music back in my life

This song makes me feel like I'm standing in the grassy rolling hills somewhere, in a hand made cable knit sweater, with the wind blowing through my hair as I watch my sheep graze.

the line “remember me love, when i am reborn” made me tear up. this song is impossibly beautiful

Hozier will always be worth the wait!

you can just close your eyes and feel the breeze and the great big world around you in those first notes

When he sings "Back to the hedgerows where the bodies are mounted" the chills I get on my arms intensify and spread thoughout the rest of my body.

His music can completely transport your body and soul somewhere else if you just close your eyes...

HE OWNS MY SOUL

Shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small vertebrates and impaling their bodies on thorns, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point. This helps them to tear the flesh into smaller, more conveniently-sized fragments, and serves as a cache so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time.

I love this song, especially adore how he lets his accent peek through a little more than usual. Makes me want to fall in love with someone in the woods.

This song feels like home.

I think all we can say is thank you

The Irish god is backkkkk

I'm pretty sure that even if I had no knowledge of the English language, the message would still be received. The reminiscent loveliness, sadness, and crushing regret just bleed right through his stunningly beautiful, poetic lyrics; and stain your heart, mind and soul with his striking and awakening vocals and emotionally charged (yet superbly soft) acoustically translated tragedy.

My best friend I’ve known since I was born died last November. I’ve always felt like he came back as a bird because the strangest things have happened since he passed. This song reminds me of him so much in SO many ways. I cannot thank you enough for it.

[Verse 1] I couldn't utter my love when it counted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now I couldn't whisper when you needed it shouted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now [Refrain] The word hung above, but never would form Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn Remember me, love, when I am reborn As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn [Verse 2] I had no idea on what ground I was founded All of that goodness is gone with you now There when I met you, my virtues uncounted All of that goodness is gone with you now [Refrain] Dragging along, following your form Hung like the pelt of some prey you had worn Remember me, love, when I am reborn As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn [Instrumental] [Verse 3] I fled to the city with so much discounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now Back to the hedgerows where bodies are mounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now [Refrain] I was housed by your warmth, and I was transformed By your grounded and giving and darkening scorn Remember me, love, when I'm reborn As the shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn

I hope you see all these comments, noticing what that a difference your music makes to so many.... ive listened to all your songs about 5000000 times over 4 years and its so glad to hear something new from you

I LOVE how much his accent shows through in this song. It sounds like an ancient prayer. So beautiful and evocative.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who started shaking the first time I heard this. Who am I kidding? I get chills and shivers every. single. time.

He makes that type of music which you listen to on a long road trip at night ❤❤🌒

the taste of being alive is running through my veins

The first times I listened to this I would get shivers down my legs and my spine and I’d start to feel like I couldn’t stand properly cause my limbs felt hollow. The amount of raw and sheer emotion that seeps through this song is indescribable.

I was laying down listening to this and tears just started coming out of my eyes, beyond my control. Hozier's power everyone

Its been 84 years...

There is no other artist like Hozier. He is simply extraordinary. Did anyone else tear up to this song?

I really think this might be one of the best songs ever written

I used to obsess over having key moments in my life where stuff was happening, you know? But then, I'm listening to this song, and it's dawn and this soft sunlight filters in through my drapes and everything is glowing and this is a moment. This is a future memory.

Idk what it is about Hozier’s music. His style is so unique, and I just love it. I’ve never heard another artist that I’ve wanted to listen to all the time. Before his music, I would be like, “oh, this person is good”, but this is so poetic yet relatable. Literally, I’m addicted to his music. And this song is just...wow.

I’m already crying

This song is too beautiful. It is so, so, so difficult to stop replaying it. No exaggeration: it is goosebumps-inducing, heart-pounding, breath-shortening. It feels like falling in love. I wake up to my mind singing it. Everything about it has totally captivated me. Tragic magic. Pure poetry that lays thick on your soul. Thank you for your art, Hozier. You are a true blessing.

Beautiful. This Irish haunting melody... love it.

HOZIER RELEASED NEW MUSIC OH MY GOD MY CROPS ARE WATER MY SOUL IS CLEANSED I AM SOBBING

I feel like this could almost be a second part to Like Real People Do.

I think there are only a few artists in each person's life that hold a special place in their hearts, because they learnt something from them, because they felt something unique listening to them, because they traveles with their voice, because because because. Hozier is one of these artists for me and I hope he will continue to hold this seat in the centre of my heart. I really want to see him evolving even more and taking us to unknown places

hozier is one of the last few musicians, who still views songs as art, and cares how to communicate them as the masterpieces that the are. Very refreshing.

It reminds me so much of Cherry Wine, which is my all time fave song!

Shrike is definitely the greatest song from the newest EP. But to be honest every song you've created is a masterpiece. Thank you for sharing your talent and soul with us, it's priceless.

Fully cried when I heard this song for the first time. His song writing skills are so strong the lyrics stand alone, they don't need the music to speak just as poignantly

It's nearly 3 (three) in the morning here, and I'm in bed with headphones on - hearing this for the first time and I am honestly in love with this song and the feeling it gives me. Amazing.

this is soooo beautiful

Goodness, I’m speechless, completely mesmerized and blown away by the beauty of this song, I can’t wait for the album to drop, I’m glad Hozier found his way out of the enchanted woods he seems to live in, glad to have you back.

This song is a masterpiece, I can't stop listening to it.

Shrike's meaning is incredibly symbolic, but simply: "What goes through him, she must first go through." First off, Shrikes are birds which impale their prey on sharp objects, such as thorns of a thorn bush, to kill and collect them. Now, the lines that come before " Remember that love when I'm reborn..." Are in the perspective of the prey, impaled and hanging off of her thorn, by him, the Shrike. "Like a cry a the final breath that is drawn," "Hung like a pelt, of some prey you had worn," "...that's transformed, by your grounded, and giving, and darkening scorn" The last of these is the biggest stretch, but as I see it, it goes "Grounded" (rooted like a thorn bush), Giving (Providing the thorn, or the means of which the Darkening occurs) and Darkening (Darkening the Light of life/killing) The prey, as I see it, are his hopes, aspirations, and attempts at love, or better put, the food he is dependent on, is dependent on her impaling, darkening, and (literally) going through, first. It's a subservient relationship, similar to a Stockholm's syndrome, that he has found himself in. The "grounded[...] scorn," of that seconded to last line, meaning that his thought of her scorn as something that's justified, comes from, possibly, his initial inability to "Utter his love when it counted," and his subservience comes from his attempt to make up for it by "Singing like a bird 'bout it now" and this dynamic is caught in a feedback loop where he is attempting to appease her, to the point of "glorifying," which is where she takes her roll of darkening and scornful lover, who knows it is all just a untruthful song sung by a bird. She is now the thorn bush on which he impales his own "prey" upon, collecting the corpses of his attempts at love, hopes, and virtues on, "Where bodies are mounted." His reluctance to utter these words of love, which already "Hung above," perhaps on a thorn already, could have been because he sensed that this love would be an eternal, and dark affair, a dynamic which would be repeat through lifetimes. With every verse, he goes through different stages of the relationship; First being Reckoning, then Adulation, Second being Corruption, Exhaustion/Indigence, and Nostalgia to a time before, And Third being his Ultimate Acceptance of how he is after she "Hatched [him] with her Warmth" and "Transformed" him. This seems to be the most coherent theme I could come up with. Symbols have so many meanings, and this song is riddled with them.Both Simply and Complexly a beautiful song, in one.

Hozier has managed to soothe my soul during the grieving process of my grandfather. I was hatched from his warmth...

ITS GO TIME GIRLS

It pains me how beautiful this song is. Haunting, beautiful, sad and uplifting. Quite simply a masterpiece.

Recently, the love of my life came back to me. He’s worked on his mental health, his finances, everything he squandered before. It’s a blessing to have him back. I think this song came at a proper time. Thanks Hozier.

I can't believe he put out four songs and ALL of them are amazing again. this guy really doesn't have bad songs, does he?

I don’t want the heaven without Hozier in it

My neighbours should thank me for blasting this song at least 20 times per day since the release. Btw, thanks Andrew, you cleansed my sinful soul.

Imo this song is about redemption. One person should have done something for the other when they needed it most, but didn't at the time. Now they finally are. They're going back to be by their lover's side. They see something in that person no one else does. The way nothing except a shrike sees a thorn like that.

The best birthday gift, thank you.

"As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn"... Reminds me of Oscar Wilde's "The Nightingale and the rose". Thank you for this wonderful song, Hozier!

this song makes me feel like im walking home at the crack of dawn after spendin the night taking care of my friend who drank too much and who i am vaguely in love with and everything is silent and i fell terribly empty but also at peace

Heard it from locke & key season two and here i am 🤍

Like the cry at the final breath that is drawn 😔

Thank God. Good music still exists.

I listened to this for the first time today and couldnt help but let the tears fall. This is beautiful and takes me back to a time that never happened.

Headphones on , laying on my sofa listening to this gem and tears comes to my eyes wow 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Hozier is the most beautiful piece of art.

“Remember me love, when I’m reborn” I would love this tattoed on my wrist

Your and Keaton Henson are two of my all time favorite singers. Both of you make me nostalgic for love I've never had, for feeling's I've not yet experienced. The poetic catharsis you make me feel is magical. Your voice is heavenly and I cannot wait to hear the other songs you've made. I don't doubt that I'll love them just as much as these.

Heard this from Locke and key season 2. I don’t know….it brings out so many emotions in me. Makes me feel nostalgic but it also makes me look forward to something beautiful. I love it! I love Hozier! WOW

This song will forever ring memories of my favorite trip in my big rig (semi truck) going from Iowa to Arizona to Los Angeles California to Lincoln Nebraska. Solely got me through all of that. A memory I'll cherish forever whenever listening to this song. Sights so beautiful.

It's like medicinal music and I'm addicted.

God, thank you for creating this man

I feel like writing down all these comments in one paper and keep it as a memoir. It's that beautiful to know how His songs make people feel. Its is true that #HozierisReligion

This song is breathtakingly beautiful

Literal earthy tones, it feels so connected with nature when he sings.

“Words hung above, but never could form, like a cry at the final breath that is drawn” UFFT MY SOUL

Man writes some beautiful melodies.

I can't be happier finally a new music ❤

One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Makes me proud to be Irish! Well done brother ☘️.

Hozier is a master. His choir like style with very earthy sounds of instruments just takes you places. Most of the pop music today use heavy synths and loose all that beauty that real life instruments with slight imperfection achieve. Some day, I'd like to see the auroras above, a warm fire and Hozier playing cozily by my side.

Gosh! Please come to South Africa, Hozier ❤❤

I love the vision of this song, the opening melody is stunning, I feel like I'm in a different place, shiny green and there is love , witches , elfs , wooden cottages and fields of flowers where I wait for my love ♡

I'm sitting alone on a hilltop in Portugal watching the sun go down, listening to this song. Thank you Andrew for all your amazing music. Xxx

This brings me to tears...so Beautiful

This guy will live a thousand years,I was just thinking about him yesterday and how I was longing for new music from him and here we are (even though I'm two weeks late for this).So Worth it,and the tune couldn't get anymore Irish than this c'mon😘I love this guy😘😘