Hozier revitalizes blues music

“Take Me to Church” by Hozier is one of the current pop chart hits and an album with more than a few catchy songs.

The astounding thing about this song, however, is not its incredibly bluesy, melancholy sound but the impressive rate at which it overtook the mainstream pop chart. Currently, Billboard’s Top 100 has it ranked at number five for the second week in a row. The song is an incredibly mournful blues song that has a statement against church biases. This is an intriguing anomaly to the insanely mind-numbing pop that fills mainstream pop stations.

The music video contextualizes this song as a sort of protest against homophobia in religious institutions, as well as being well-timed to be a more passive protest against Russia’s blatant anti-LGBTQ laws. The song itself, though, seems mournful about one’s inability to live up to societal expectations and feeling as if that leads to an inherent sense of failure not entirely consoled by lovers.

Hozier’s whole album is in need of some love, though. While “Take Me to Church” is the most widely known song on the self-named album, “Hozier” is filled with songs that I predict will become hits and make it to the mainstream pop stations.

“Jackie and Wilson” is one of the songs I can see easily becoming a top hit. The song has more pop elements but still manages to maintain an overall blues sound. It is incredibly catchy and reminds me of a sort of swing rhythm.

“We’ll name our children Jackie and Wilson, raise ’em on rhythm and blues.”

His entire song is this optimistic swing song about his future with a wife and two children named Jackie and Wilson. The optimism and hopefulness abounding about his future makes this song as heartwarming as it is upbeat and cheery.

“Foreigner’s God,” another one of Hozier’s genuine hits, is bound to end up in a movie — the song is one of those perfect dance scene songs.

The entirety of “Hozier” is an incredible piece of current blues music. Part of the charm is the revitalization of the blues industry and the blues making a comeback into mainstream music.

My favorite thing about this artist is his genuine talent. Listening to him live versus listening to him recorded makes little difference — a refreshing aspect in this day of computerized music.

His guitar is also something incredibly lovely and refreshing. Most artists don’t play their own instruments anymore. There’s the singer, and all the instrument players — if there are any real instruments at all. But here is this brilliant guitarist who also has a genuine talent for singing.

This album is definitely worth adding to the music collection.