Hozier has released a brand-new single called ‘Hymn To Virgil’ – you can listen to it below.
The track appears on an expanded deluxe edition of the Irish singer-songwriter’s 2023 UK Number One album, ‘Unreal Unearth’.
Arriving today (December 6), ‘Unreal Unearth: Unending’ comprises the original version of the record, Hozier’s two 2024 EPs ‘Unheard’ and ‘Unaired’, as well as music that was previously unavailable on physical formats.
“If I held in my hands everything gold could buy/ I’d still not have a thing worth giving you/ You tell me the sun is shining in paradise/ And I have to watch your lips turn blue,” Hozier sings in the first verse of ‘Hymn To Vigil’, making way for pitched-down, distorted vocals (“I would burn the world to bring some heat to you“).
The atmospheric and experimental-sounding single then opens up to a powerful, gospel-tinged chorus.
“You are the reason I went through it/ The only meaning as I knew it/ And I can only do my best/ I do not do this for myself/ I’d walk through hell on living feet for you,” he belts out.
Tune in here:
‘Hymn To Vigil’ was co-written by Hozier alongside Daniel Krieger, Daniel Tannenbaum, Jeff Gitelman, Peter Gonzales and Sergiu Gherman, and recorded as part of the ‘Unreal Unearth’ sessions.
‘Unreal Unearth: Unending’ is available via major online streaming platforms, and on 2CD, 1LP and 3LP physical editions. Buy it or listen through your preferred streaming platform here.
The ‘Unheard’ EP features Hozier’s first-ever UK Number One single ‘Too Sweet’, with its follow-up ‘Unaired’ containing the musician’s powerful political track ‘Nobody’s Soldier’. In April, the singer became the first Irish act to top the Billboard chart since Sinéad O’Connor, with ‘Too Sweet’.
“I’ve been both thrilled and taken massively by surprise by such a staggering reaction,” he said of the achievement at the time. “It means the world that you’re enjoying this song so much. Thank you all so much.”
Yesterday (December 5), Hozier was confirmed as a first-time headliner for Reading & Leeds. He’ll top the bill at the 2025 edition of the twin-site festival alongside Chappell Roan, Travis Scott and Bring Me The Horizon.
During an interview with NME in 2023, Hozier spoke about taking a more collaborative approach on ‘Unreal Unearth’. “I’d never sort of co-written with people in that way before,” he explained.
“To just be in a space with musicians and jam, that was how a lot of this music started [and] how these soundscapes were made. In particular with the songs [I did] with Dan Tenenbaum, Pete Gonzales and Chakra, it was like we would just jam, make noise and see what would happen. We’d record that noise and then I would take the stems away and build a song around it.”
Hozier continued: “I think I wrote a lot of the work that I needed to on my own, which is how I’d done the previous two albums. But by the time I was able to work with musicians [after the pandemic], I think I was ready to charge myself with somebody else’s energy a little bit. I felt ready for that. And it felt like something new [and] exciting.”
You can revisit the full video interview for NME‘s In Conversation series above.
In a four-star review, NME wrote: “Hozier not only navigates different genres on ‘Unreal Unearth,’ but chooses between moments of sparseness, like the minimalist ‘To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe)’ while also making space for expansive tracks.”
The post Listen to Hozier’s atmospheric new single ‘Hymn To Virgil’ appeared first on NME.
