In September 2013, when Irish solo artist Andrew Hozier-Byrne released his debut single - a song called ‘Take Me To Church’ - which he had mostly recorded in the attic of his parent’s house in Wicklow (his father a blues musician, his mother an artist), little did he know about the hurricane-strength surge in public interest that the song would spark, carrying him to international stardom.
A full ten years and billions of streams later, Hozier still calls Wicklow home. While his music takes him all over the world, it is Ireland and its people and places, the weather and landscape; where a stream is still something that runs down at the bottom of the garden, that calls him back to where he feels he naturally belongs.
The last decade has brought both public and critical acclaim. Multi-platinum album sales, number one records on both sides of the Atlantic, multiple awards including a Grammy-nomination, film and video game soundtracks and countless sold-out live shows all over the world. But as Hozier prepares to release his third album - ‘Unreal Unearth’ - his passion for his art is undimmed, and his curiosity about our world - and all that is good and bad about it - remains undiminished.
