‘Unreal Unearth’ From Hozier Is Timeless, Transportive, And It Bounces

Welcome to the table,

I have a hard time listening to music sometimes. It’s not that I don’t like music, it actually quite the opposite. I find myself getting lost in it when songs are on and I have other things to do. I can work with random YouTube videos playing and deep diving into lore about Warhammer 40k, D&D, or even listen to scholars talk about Dante’s Inferno keeps me company day in and day out as I sit at the desk doing research, balancing game design, and writing.

Music though, music is transportive. It takes me somewhere, it holds my focus, and when it’s good I get totally lost in it.

Hozier‘s new album Unreal Unearth is really bad for my productivity, in a totally good way. There are a lot of memes and jokes out there. My wife is a big Hozier fan and she and her girlfriends are always saying Hozier is ‘a man written by women.’

I get what they are saying but I come at his whole vibe from another direction, he feels like what I’ve always envisioned a bard from a fantasy novel as being. Across the Forgotten Realms, or sitting in a tavern in Bag End, his sound feels timeless and otherworldly more than not.

Hozier offers an emotionally impactful almost dirge-like melancholy as a through line in Unreal Unearth that he seems to effortlessly conjure with his haunting voice and enveloping instrumentals.

Unreal Unearth is a 16-track collection that has production credits for Hozier, as well as Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, Jennifer Decilveo, and Bekon. It’s wild to think that back in 2013 when “Take Me To Church” hit the streams he would become such a powerhouse but the fact that the single is RIAA certified Diamond with another 13 million in combined sales and streams speaks volumes to how much audiences crave his work and Unreal Unearth seems to not slow in his far-reaching and universal appeal.

If you are a fan of moody ventures into emotionally impactful spaces, music that feels like it could have been in Dante’s iPod as he wandered to Hell and back, or just something solid that will transport you a little bit to a place between Lord of The Rings and Elden Ring, then Unreal Unearth is going to get you there and back again.

Until next time, Eat Your Young is my favorite track from this album. There are a lot of strong offerings but that one has a bounce to it that somehow feels timeless and does something I love the most in music… it bounces.