Features Hozier: “You Don’t Want To Weigh Yourself Down”

Whirlwind success isn’t a rarity. One casual Youtube upload can result in a year’s worth of attention, spiralling out of control. Andrew Hozier-Byrne’s story isn’t one of total coincidence. When ‘Take Me To Church’ emerged quietly and eventually morphed into a giant viral sensation watched by over 2 million people, it was the least that this polite Dublin-based musician deserved.

After years of writing, the track arrived at a good time. It offered the most refined, soul-spliced take of Hozier’s to date, and it landed alongside a video that took on prominent issues linking into Russia’s new laws against LGBT rights.

Andrew’s aware that he might already have a reputation as someone capable of speaking on behalf of millions. “You don’t want to weigh yourself down heavily with it though,” he says. He’s keen to avoid a reputation as an overtly political songwriter. “Every song whether intentional or not is reflective of society in some way,” he says. “But there is a lot of artists like Paul Weller, Nina Simone or Stevie Wonder who were deliberately writing to reflect what the world was through their eyes.”



The breakthrough ‘Take Me To Church’ formed a debut EP, released last year. It represented the first time that Andrew felt prepared to go out on a limb and share songs he’d been writing for years. It was only in the last year or so that he felt “close enough to stand over the project and move with it.” Often writing in a solitary environment, he’s never been connected to any one scene. He actually lives on the outskirts of Dublin, in County Wicklow, and it was rare for him to showcase material at shows or open mic nights. He was more conscious of developing without being under a spotlight.



He’s clearly still learning, too. Talk turns to balancing out the benefits of “personal” songwriting and the creation of a character. He says that using the voice of somebody else is easier because “you can look at it from a different perspective.” But he admits that the songs are “very personal and of course they’re reflections of myself.



“But I don’t like the idea of indulging one’s emotional narcissism a little too much. We all do it, but it helps to keep a distance.”



Hozier’s ‘From Eden’ EP is out now.



Taken from the May 2014 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.