The leaves are beginning to change, there’s a chill in the air, and the tunes are getting moodier. It’s my favorite time of year…fall! Here’s what I’m listening to right now.
(Side note: I drew the lil ghost graphic at the top of this post! Want to see more of my art? Follow @isophie.art on IG) 🙂
Unreal Unearth – Hozier
It’s been 5 years since Hozier released his second full-length record, Wasteland Baby, in 2018. Unreal Unearth is Hozier’s first concept album, and let me tell you…it was entirely worth the wait. Although he tells the common story of an intense breakup, Hozier conveys it in a very unique way. He writes about the separation as represented by the nine circles of hell from Dante’s Inferno.
“[Dante’s Inferno] is a poem about a person who’s wandering through this sort of underworld space, and in each Circle, they meet with a new person who shares their grievance, their pain, their experience. That was something I allowed myself to play with a little bit — that each song starts with my voice, but it allows the song to grow to where it needs to be. Let the voice explore the idea that it needs to explore.” – Hozier
There are a few prominent themes throughout this record. Hozier is well-known for his stunning imagery – particularly within the realms of forestry, folklore, the Bible, death, and renewal. Unreal Unearth gathers all of those themes and places them under the lens of grief. He has a way of crafting seemingly unexplainable feelings into poetry. The tracks on Unreal Unearth remind us that anything we have can easily be taken away, and that losing someone can be transformative in addition to painful.
The record opens with the haunting “De Selby (Part I),” which explores the age-old question of “what was the world before there was anything?” The song depicts a world asleep in which God Himself stands alone in a depth of darkness. Hozier dares to ask if God feels lonely. The outro is sung in Hozier’s native tongue, Gaelic. It translates to the story of two people intertwined: “Although you’re bright and light, you arrive to me like nightfall, you come like nightfall. You and I sort of mixed up together, you and I metamorphosized.”
“Francesca” is my favorite track on the album. To me, it encapsulates the acceptance of living with grief. The track starts slow, with Hozier questioning his lover and their expectations of him. “Do you think I’d give up? That this might’ve shook the love from me…Or that I was on the brink? How could you think, darling, I’d scare so easily?” The track builds as Hozier bellows, “If someone asked me at the end, I’ll tell them put me back in it! Darling, I would do it again!”. He would put himself through hell again and again if it meant that he could be a part of this person’s life once more. He reiterates that he knows going through this process again would break his heart, but that he’s willing to do it. As he sings the line “I’ll tell them put me back in it,” you can feel the desperation and touch of anger in his voice. As someone who has experienced immense grief over the last year and a half, I relate to this song in many ways.
“First Light,” the closing track on the record, is another favorite of mine. This song circles back to the theme of light versus darkness. Listeners get the sense that Hozier is emerging out of something and onto the other side – a foil to the first track, “De Selby (Part II)”, which seems to depict the beginning of the difficult trek through a deep depression.
I could go on and on about this record – there are so many layers to it. I’d highly recommend reading up on the lore behind each track here. Hozier’s thought process in creating this record is incredibly interesting and makes me appreciate his songwriting so much more.
II (EP) – Young In The City
Young In The City, an indie-rock band made up of old high school friends from Washington, have released only two EPs since their reformation in 2015. II, released in 2016, caught my eye (and ears) when the track “Annie” popped up on my Spotify Discover last year. “Annie” is an endearing track about love and little acts of kindness. Young In The City strays from my usual preferred sound. There is a hint of country in lead singer Noah Gunderson’s scratchy vocals, which I typically shy away from. But Noah’s voice mixed with the echoey saxophone on this track is simply stunning, and it left me wanting more.
“I’ve got friends in Reno, we could be there by dawn. If you get this message, leave the porch light on.” This line always makes me picture a warm little house with a porch light on, candles in the window, and someone waiting for their partner by the fireplace.
The anchoring lyric within this song is “And I’ll call you on my way back home.” A simple reminder that some of the littlest things can mean the absolute most.
“Waste My Time” is another notable track on this 4-song EP.
Lucky For You – Bully
Switching gears, Lucky For You is the fourth studio album by punk rock girlie Alicia Bognanno, AKA Bully. One of my favorite TV shows is Pen15, which features a song by Bikini Kill, “DemiRep,” in the opening sequence. I fell in love with the track instantly, and have been enjoying bands with a similar sound ever since. One of these bands is Bully. According to Pitchfork, “Lucky for You shifts Bully’s sound into the territory of radio-friendly Y2K pop-rock pastiche lately made wildly popular by artists like Olivia Rodrigo and beabadoobee.” Alicia’s crunchy guitar solos and grungy vocals are reminiscent of the alt girl bands I loved in middle school. (Anyone remember KSM?)
My favorite track on the record is “Lose You,” which features Nashville singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy. Soccer Mommy has shared the stage with the likes of Mitski, Phoebe Bridges, Paramore and more, earning her a prominent place within the alternative/indie genre. The song features a powerful opening line: “Time’s just a useless measurement of pain. You can take all the time in the world, things won’t ever be same.” From there, the song crescendos into a whirl of guitar riffs and harmonies. It could easily fit on the soundtrack for the 2003 film Freaky Friday.
What are you listening to right now?
A Perfect Playlist 
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