Four songs, 14 minutes, no warning. Hozier put out his Unheard EP on March 22, 2024, and opened it with “Too Sweet.”
The Irish singer-songwriter had dropped hints on social media earlier in the month, but the release itself landed as a surprise, NME reported. All four tracks were cut during the sessions for his album Unreal Unearth and did not make that record. “It’s my pleasure to announce the release of more work from the album sessions which could not make the original release,” Hozier said.
Why these songs were left off
The album took its structure from Dante’s Inferno, and Hozier tied each leftover song to a part of that map. In his words, they “might’ve made it to the circles of gluttony, limbo, violence and the outward ‘ascent’ respectively but could not for different reasons.”
The Daily Star’s reviewer made the same match-up. “Too Sweet,” a groove-heavy song about two people living very different lives, stands for gluttony, the third circle. Its chorus had already been used in promotion and spread widely on social media.
The rest of the track list
Second is “Empire Now,” which paints a post-apocalyptic scene and, in the reviewer’s reading, still leaves room for “hope and resilience.” Third is “Fare Well,” the closer, a song that sets melancholy against moments of joy. The fourth listed, “Wildflower and Barley,” features Allison Russell. It pairs soft guitar with a building arrangement and was described as a “hopeful, upbeat track tinged with a note of unhappiness.”
The timing followed a busy stretch. Unreal Unearth arrived in August 2023 and gave Hozier his first UK Number One. A 2023 tour that included a surprise Glastonbury set sold over one million tickets worldwide. Unheard was his first release since the album.
The Daily Star’s reviewer was warm on the finished product, calling it “nothing short of a delight for the senses” on a cool spring evening and praising “evocative yet jam-worthy tracks.”
Sources
- Listen to Hozier's surprise 'Unheard EP' of new songs – NME
- Unheard: Hozier's new EP is a musical manifestation of Spring – The Daily Star
