#but you spoke some quick new music that went so far to soothe the soul as it was and ever shall be unearth without a name

[thisphantomlife]

You spoke some quick new music that went so far to soothe this soul

[dakrapatops]

save me first time by hozier........ save me........ first time by hozier save me...........

[kairennart]

And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the river Lethe The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same But you spoke some quick new music That went so far to soothe this soul As it was And ever shall be Unearth without a name

Hozier, First Time

[iam-the-wild]

First time by Hozier fits Sam and Evan really well

"Remember once I told you 'bout

How before I heard it from your mouth

My name would always hit my ears

As such an awful sound

And the soul, if that's what you'd call it

Uneasy ally of the body

It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me

I drank dry the River Lethe

The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same

But you spoke some quick new music

That went so far to soothe this soul

As it was and ever shall be

Unearth without a name

Some part of me must have died

The first time that you called me baby

And some part of me came alive

The first time that you called me baby

These days I think I owe my life

To flowers that were left here by my mother

Ain't that like them, gifting life to you again

This life lived mostly underground

Unknowing either sight nor sound

'Til reaching up for sunlight

Just to be ripped out by the stem

Sensing only now it's dying

Drying out then drowning blindly

Blooming forth its every colour

In the moments it has left

To share the space with simple living things

Infinitely suffering

But fighting off like all creation

The absence of itself

Anyway

The last time it was heard out loud

The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked

To resignation as the arguing declined

When I was young I used to guess

Are there limits to any emptiness?

When was the last time?

C'mere to me, when was the last time?

[itseivwhore]

Is Hozier, who wrongly published a video of himself with the handsome Squidward filter on his stories on Instagram and afterwards published a written apology, the same man who wrote: "Do you know I could break beneath the weight of the goodness, love, that I still carry for you" and "Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I" and "If there was anyone to ever get through life with their heart still intact, they didn't do it right" and "How can somethin' be so much heavier but so much less than what it seems?" And "But you spoke some quick new music that went so far to soothe this soul as it was and ever shall be unearth without a name" ?

Is it the SAME MAN?

[maliathewerecutie]

Remember once I told you 'bout

How before I heard it from your mouth

My name would always hit my ears

As such an awful sound

And the soul, if that's what you'd call it

Uneasy ally of the body

It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me

I drank dry the River Lethe

The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same

But you spoke some quick new music

That went so far to soothe this soul

As it was and ever shall be

Unearth without a name

Song: First time by Hozier

[us3rnam3-r3dact3d]

99 for Milo and 17 for Sweetheart 👀

EXCELLENT Choice Anon!!

First Time | Hozier

I mean... this man is a simp. Canonically. He would lay down his life for Sweetheart without a single thought.

Remember once I told you 'bout How before I heard it from your mouth My name would always hit my ears As such an awful sound And the soul, if that's what you'd call it Uneasy ally of the body It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the River Lethe The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same But you spoke some quick new music That went so far to soothe this soul As it was and ever shall be Unearth without a name

Some part of me must have died The first time that you called me baby And some part of me came alive The first time that you called me baby

We're ignoring the last verse and chorus, in which the relationship ends. This is just a wonderful love song for Milo and Sweetheart. Milo found himself, his whole self, while growing with Sweetheart. I really think this song speaks for itself, so go listen to it if you haven't already.

Flesh and Bone | Madilyn Mei

The second of Mei's songs to show up in these requests! It's very good. It's pretty short, so I'll just put all of the lyrics here for ya'll.

Pumpkin head Flower bed Just a gourd in a garden What I'd give For my own Flesh and bone For a day

Silly dreams, are they not? In the end we all decay and rot Still I wish to live outside This hollowed head of mine Did I exist if I was only ever thoughts?

Time is fleeting, seasons change I'm a fool, but still I pray For my own flesh and bone for one day

I think Sweetheart feels... unreal sometimes. Invisible. Brushed aside. I think that they struggle to express themself effectively to other people, and when they try they feel very misunderstood. I think that sometimes, they wish that they took up as much space as Milo does, as the rest of the pack does, even as the other mates do at times.

But that can't be them. It was decided for them, after all, and nobody wants to see the ugly sides of them. So instead they hide away.

[fortheloveofshitsandgiggles]

Unreal Unearth is an album that means a lot to me. It’s one of if not the greatest albums I’ve ever heard. Each song impacts me in a different way, so I wanted to go through each song with my own experience and interpretations (disclaimer, some of these analyses are my personal interpretation or how I react to the song, art is subjective and is what you make it)

De Selby (Part 1): oh my god I’ve been dying to hear Hozier sing in Gaeilge. I actually sang a song in Gaeilge in choir a few years back, and while it was difficult for me pronunciation wise, it was super fun to sing and is a beautiful and underrated language in my opinion. I also adore how haunting it is. It sounds like the soundtrack to my crisis (and it has been). I struggle to explain it, but the melody is so tormenting, especially with the layered voices in the second half of the Gaeilge verse. They feel very ghost like. It’s such an incredible way to introduce us into the decent into hell.

Transition: Yes I’m giving this special section because it’s one of the greatest song transitions I’ve ever heard. It’s really difficult to transition from a slow song into an upbeat one, but this one did it in a way that allows my brain to adjust to the difference in tempo. First of all, it lowers in pitch until it matches the key of part 2, musically representing our slow decent into hell. Then it starts with this beat that goes into part 2, and to me, this represents a building of insanity, one that is further explored in part 2.

De Selby (part 2): This is one of my favorite songs on the entire album. First of all, the beat is so addictive and the song generally makes me want to shake my ass. But beyond that, this song encompasses insanity in a way that I haven’t seen before but is also so relatable. Even with the music video, like there are times where I have felt exactly like the guy in the video and I just want to run into the abyss and forget everything and hit myself with a shovel. Hozier has such a talent for making relatability so artistic and unreal (forgive the pun).

First Time: This song is so full of complex lyricism that I couldn’t even begin to dive into. It’s super vibey, which I appreciate. A few notable lyrics I’d like to point out is “But you spoke some quick new music that went so far to soothe this soul as it was and ever shall be, unearth without a name.” I don’t know if anyone’s talked about this, but this lyric was so similar to the “glory be” prayer (I grew up Catholic lol) that goes “glory be to the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was and ever shall be, a world without end.” I don’t know if that was intentional/ the direct inspiration but I def did a double take when I heard that lyric. If it is intentional, I love how he twists it from a praise god I’ll get into Heaven sort of plea into describing the limbo we are trapped in, unearth without a name. The other lyric is “These days I think I owe my life to flowers that were left here by my mother, Ain't that like them, giftin' life to you again” I just think that’s such a sweet line that appreciates the kindness in humanity, especially so many mothers including my own. I would like to give a shoutout to Hozier’s mom for birthing and raising him, I would love to shake hands with her.

Francesca: This is maybe one of the best songs Hozier has ever put out. It has been on repeat since the second he dropped it. First of all, the sheer concept of this song, to love someone so full and so deeply that you would endure every ounce of pain and suffering that is inflicted on you because of this love, that is so powerful and just has such an element of storytelling that is as thrilling as watching a movie. To endure such hardship for the sake of a simple touch makes me want to cry. We all want something like that, to be protected and to be worth the sacrifice of another. And the lyrics encompass that perfectly, especially “Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I.” Now, being religiously traumatized myself, Heaven is a concept that I’ve gotten to know well. Eternal bliss and joy in the comfort of Jesus. It has hung over my head and has been used to keep me in the religion, especially as a comfort when it comes to the concept of death. But to say that even this place of eternal bliss and love and joy isn’t fit for the kind of love we possess just absolutely guts me. It is just beyond incredible.

I, Carrion (Icarian): As if Francesca wasn’t devastating enough, Hozier had to follow it up with this one. I absolutely love the use of Icarus imagery in songs, I love Icarus by Bastille (it especially reminds me of Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens). I know he used Icarus imagery in previous songs, and this is no hate to Sunlight, but I was def looking for something gentler that further explored the different perspectives of the story. And you know what, Hozier delivered. To paint the fall as something beautiful or as not even perceiving it as a tragedy is such a fresh take that I love the exploration of. “If I should fall on that day I only pray don’t fall away from me,” that hit me like a bag of bricks when I first heard it. Like, he’s plummeting from the sky, and still says “allow the ground to find its brutal way to me.” No matter what the ground holds for me, as long as I’m falling with you, everything will be alright. It becomes this state of delusion that is both heartwarming and devastating.

Eat Your Young: This song is what I have affectionately and repeatedly referred to as the “sexiest political commentary I’ve ever heard.” The melody and beat are so seductive, which just contributes to the appeal of the message, despite it being a pretty horrifying one. But it is from the perspective of the villain, which is an interesting point to write from. To say that it’s easier to cut out the middle man and eat your children rather than do atrocious things for power and money that will kill them anyways is such a relevant take on not only politics and capitalism but just the greedy side of humanity in general. The song is almost a trick, like it makes the greed sound so appealing and acts as a siren song to push the narrator’s unreliable narrative.

Damage Gets Done: I love Hozier songs that dive into the feeling of being young. Songs like Sedated and even Jackie and Wilson are reminiscent of that. We often think we’re indestructible when we’re young and we think we can do anything. We become reckless, but that recklessness isn’t what kills us. It’s the people in power who damage us with the laws they pass and systems they create. It sounds so happy like childhood, and yet it reminisces on what it was like to not be forced to participate in these systems such as capitalism. It felt good to just be free and not be tied down by the world. The melody of this song sounds nostalgic and hype like the energy of a young person. Also shoutout Brandi Charlie, I adore her voice on this track and in general.

Who We Are: We have to get through things one way or another, but “getting through still has a cost.” God, this line hits because even when the “damage gets done,” we still have to hurt in order to heal. And it hurts the most when you didn’t realize what you lost until it’s gone. The other lyric that hits is “someone with your eyes might come in time to hold me like water or christ hold me like a knife” hold me even though I’ll slip through your fingers, or if you can’t do that, wield me as something that can cause damage. And there’s nothing else we can do about it. Why? Because that’s who we are. Also, Hozier’s vocals on this song are absolutely insane, those high notes are so angelic. I don’t think I knew his range went that high but I was super impressed.

Son of Nyx: It seems like I say every song is my favorite (because they’re all so freaking good), but this one has got to be my favorite on the album. Despite the lack of words, this song stuck out to me the most. I want to kiss the composer of this piece. First of all, I’m an absolute slut for orchestral/ cinematic songs. And this song is unlike any of his other songs. It carries this haunting melody that is almost angelic in a way but the minor key pulls you back down into this journey of hell that we’ve been going on. It incorporates the melodies from other songs on the album beautifully. I’ve only been able to pick out the melodies from who we are and abstract, so let me know if there’s any others I missed. But the moment where the orchestra swells makes me actually ascend into the next dimension. I swear I had an out of body experience when I heard it for the first time. It’s so terrifying in a beautiful way and words can’t properly convey how this song makes me feel. It doesn’t need to have words for me to understand it, and pieces like that are especially impactful to me.

All Things End: Wow what a way to follow that. It definitely gives a bit of whiplash. First of all, I love the music video for this because the cut from Heaven Hozier singing with his little surgeon church choir to him dead on a table makes me giggle every time, it’s so abrupt. Anyways, it’s interesting that this song goes under the circle of Heresy, because the connection isn’t immediately obvious. But, to me, it does make a lot of sense. To say all things end, including Heaven and hell, inherently denies the belief in Christian ideals. Which, to me, is empowering in a way. This song is simultaneously hopeless and hopeful at the same time. It says that joy will end eventually, but so will the pain. It’s a comfort and an anxiety all wrapped up into one song.

To Someone From a Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe): I’m gonna be honest, this one was harder for me to figure out. It’s incredibly simple in a way that is so effective. To me, this song sounds like being unable to provide for someone what they need. And that’s one of the most devistating feelings, one that the simple sad sound of the song encompasses very well. I know what it feels like to be unable to give what someone needs. It makes you feel so stuck and so useless, a feeling which I despise. And Hozier, as he always does, broke my heart with this one. But he was only gearing me up for what would come later with Unknown.

Butchered Tongue: One thing this song reminds me of is how much history we’ve lost. I think about this a lot, the texts we could’ve had, the wisdom we could’ve shared with one another, all lost to the greed of other human beings. I think of the Indigenous cultures that were viciously stripped away in the name of god, the languages lost, the abuse endured. I think of the stories of LGBTQ+ people that remain untold because it didn’t fit the ideal image of those in power. I think of the untold thoughts and lives brutally taken to early. We build incredibly complex and beautiful cultures but we still put in the hours to tear them down. It’s a really upsetting reality, to know that loss happens all around us and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. But we are also encouraged to be kind, so if you take anything from this post, from this song, please show kindness to all, especially those whose stories remain untold.

Anything But: This one is just so groovy I always gotta do a little dance when I hear it. What’s interesting is this song is framed like a love song. But to me, this sounds like running from something or someone. Like “I don’t wanna be anything but I would do anything just to run away” like yeah same. I just want to run away from everything and move into a cottage in the woods or something. It really captures that feeling of just wanting to get tf out of here.

Abstract (Psychopomp): Circling back to the religious trauma thing, I’ve always had a fear of death. Or rather, what comes after death. With the threat of hell always hanging above my head, I was scared to step out of that narrative they always trapped me in with. I don’t wanna suffer for eternity after my short existence. So I’ve always struggled with the idea of dying. But this song frames the journey to the afterlife as something beautiful, which is so comforting, I can barely put it into words. The idea that a spirit guide could be escorting you to the afterlife and they tell you to look back at Earth and “see how it shines” makes me feel a relief unlike any other. I know this song is based on an experience Hozier had where he watched an animal get hit by a car and watched someone comfort the animal in its last moment. But the way this song treats the concept of death is just so moving. It captures the fear and the pain but also the beauty of having someone to share those last moments with and having someone guide you beyond. The imagery in this song is such pure storytelling I feel like I am recounting the memory as if it’s my own.

Unknown / Nth: Not only is this song the most devastating one on the album, it’s maybe the most devastating song I’ve ever heard. I went through a breakup a while back and every single lyric described every single thing I was feeling about that lost relationship. It captured me and my pain so well I’m convinced Hozier crawled into my brain and wrote this. He described feelings I couldn’t even fit into words. The teaser that Hozier posted for this song on tik tok actually came out right in that stage where I could feel they were drifting away from me. This was a long distance relationship, so first the “you know the difference never made a difference to me” hit hard. Not only that, I always called them my angel, so “I thought you were like an angel to me” was just double the emotional damage. Then, we get to the bridge. This bridge is the absolute most gut wrenchingly genius string of words ever written. “Do you know I could break be with the weight of the goodness love I still carry for you? That Id walk so far just to take the injury of finally knowing you” Holy. Shit. I’m someone who, when I love someone, I love them with every ounce of myself. I would bend the Earth if they asked me to, I would give them my life and soul to sell to Satan. For a long time after that breakup, I still loved them and that love just fueled my grief. I knew this person like the back of my hand, I knew every inflection in their voice, every joke they hadn’t yet made, every feature of their face. And they knew me, fully and deeply in a way few people do. They listened, and they made me feel heard. And all of the sudden, it was all gone. And I did break beneath that weight, because I still loved and knew them, but didn’t get to know anymore. I didn’t get to know what they were doing now, how they were doing, I didn’t get to call them every single night anymore. But despite all of the pain, I would gladly do it over and over again. I can’t bring myself to regret any of it. “And there are some people love who are better unknown.” All I’ve ever wanted was to be understood. I struggle to make friends, and sometimes when I do, I’m only relevant when I’m beneficial. I’ve only ever wanted to be known by those around me. And they knew me. But when they left, I felt like I was unknown again. And I too resigned myself to that idea that maybe I am better unknown.

Transition: The transition between Unknown / Nth and First Light is much more subtle than the one between the De Selbys. But it’s there and it’s worth mentioning. When Unknown / Nth ends, we are left with this sinking and hopeless feeling that we will forever be stuck in that ice, flapping our wings. That hopelessness is drawn out in this ghost of a lingering note that pulls through the end of the song. Then the very first note of First Light is the same as the last note of Unknown / Nth.

First Light: The beginning of this song sounds exactly like rays of light spilling through the cracks. It sounds like the relief of light hitting your eyes after being trapped in a place of darkness for a long time. As the song goes on, it starts to sound more like an ascension. The vocals become very angelic and the whole song grows into this powerhouse of force that just gives off such a hope and determination that we haven’t felt for this whole album. To me, it’s very interesting that Hozier decides to end this album on such a hopeful note despite how devastating every other song was. I was convinced he was going to end the album on Unknown, and he very well could’ve done that. He could’ve left us in the deepest circle of hell. But he chose to end on this super optimistic note of finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think it just gives us a look into his own optimism and his belief that our resilience as humans has and will pay off. We are constantly faced with adversity and won’t stop until we take our last breaths. But our desire to keep fighting is what makes us such a uniquely incredible species. And the payoff afterwards is a satisfaction that nothing else can quite compare to.

Hozier has such a way of turning the human experience into something otherworldly. He never ceases to amaze me with how his mind creates. I hope I get to tell him one day how much his art means to me and how deeply it’s affected me.

[hozier-self-titled]

absolutely obsessed with "and the first time you kissed me, i drank dry the river lethe, the liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same, but you spoke some quick new music that went so far to sooth the soul as it was and ever shall be the unearth without a name"

[animentality]

Another Hozier song for Durgetash? Another Hozier song for Durgetash. (specifically first time from unreal unearth)

Remember once I told you 'bout/ How before I heard it from your mouth/ My name would always hit my ears/ As such an awful sound? Sounds like Durge only going by "The Dark Urge", but Gortash being one of the few people who knows their real name

And the first time that you kissed me, I drank dry the River Lethe/ The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same The first time Durge and Gortash kissed Durge was scared and tried to forget it ever happened but they couldn't

But you spoke some quick new music/ That went so far to soothe this soul/ As it was and ever shall be/ Unearth without a name They were intrigued by his brilliant mind and his cruelty, and he was one of the only people who could soothe them. (but he's dead now and they're a different person, so that feeling will die without a name)

Some part of me must have died/ The first time that you called me baby/ And some part of me came alive/ The first time that you called me baby Durge was changed by their feelings for Gortash for better and for worse, and it was scary for them

The last time it was heard out loud/ The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked/ To resignation as the arguing declined "The perfect genius of our hands and mouths" reminds me of Gortash's "we were brilliant together", and "as the arguing declined" reminds me of your headcanon that their last conversation together was an argument.

When I was young I used to guess/ Are there limits to any emptiness/ When was the last time?/ C'mere to me, when was the last time? Durge can't remember their relationship now, and can't place why they have that empty feeling in their chest

Some part of me must have died/ The final time you called me baby/ But some part of me came alive/ The final time you called me baby When Gortash died the final bit of the old Durge died as well, but now free of him the new Durge can truly live.

ok but now the lyrics "some part of me must have died/ the final time you called me baby/ but some part of me came alive/ the final time you called me baby" is imprinted on my SOUL now anon.

holy fuck.

[touchstoneaf]

Unreal Unearth, Is It Ineffable? (And if so, how much does it apply to the Ineffable Husbands?)

What follows is an incredibly painful lyric-journey through "Unreal Unearth" as it might apply to the Ineffable Divorce. ie, deconstructing / extrapolating some Hozier lyrics through the lens of Aziracrow; a project.

“De Selby (Part 1)"

At last, when all of the world is asleep, you take in the blackness of air.  The likes of a darkness so deep that God at the start couldn’t bear… (Crowley alone sans Aziraphale, as compared to after the Fall.)

and sit unseen, with only the inner upheld.  Your reflection can’t offer a word to the bliss of not knowing yourself, with all the mirroring gone from the world.  (He’s literally lost his mirror.)

But still the mind, rejecting this new empty space, fills it with something or someone.  (Wondering, did he fill that emptiness with Zira, and now there’s nothing left?) 

No closer could I be to God… or why he would do what he’s done.  (Self-explanatory, on both counts.)

(Translated from the Irish) Although you’re light / bright /free, you come to me like night, upset.  Through each other, we are transformed together.  The transformation is an art, it’s a dark art.  (Definitely them to one another; hidden from the light, transformative.)

Verdict:  somewhat Ineffable.

"De Selby (Part 2)"

What you're given, what you live in; darling, it finds a way to live in you. And your heart, love, has such darkness.  I feel it in the corners of the room.  If I was any closer, after the gloom… (Zira looking down from Heaven on Crowley, falling apart in the bookshop)

If could only lose me…  I wanna lose me.  If I fade away, I wanna fade away with you.  (Zira wanting to be back with him.) 

If I was any closer, I could only lose me.  I could be lost.  If I fade away…  Let me fade away.  No more than I was, or than I want to be, when you fall on me like night, every time… And I want to be so far from sight and mind. (Crowley, lost and alone in the bookshop.)

I wanna kill the lights.  I wanna run against the world that's turning.  I'd move so fast that I'd outpace the dawn.  I want to be gone.  I wanna run so far, I'd beat the morning, before the dawn has come.  (Both, wanting to just run away from all of this, together.)

I'd block the sun if you want it done.  Let all time slow, let all light go.  I don't need to know where we begin and end.  I'd still know you.  (Crowley, ready to stop time, do anything to have Zira back.)

Not being shown you… I only need the working of my hands.  If I was any closer…  Do you understand?  I could only lose me… I wanna lose me.  (Zira determined to fix it all to get him back).

If I fade away (let me fade away)… I wanna fade away with you.  If I was any closer, I could only lose me.  I could be lost.  If I fade away, let me fade away…  (Crowley, alone.)

No more than I was or than I want to be when you fall on me like night.  I wanna kill the lights. I wanna run against the world that's turning.  I'd move so fast that I'd outpace the dawn.  I wanna be gone.  I wanna run so far, I'd beat the morning, before the dawn has come.  (Both, wanting to be back together.)

I'd block the sun, if you want it done.  If I was any closer, I could only lose me.  If I fade away, let me fade away.  (Crowley, mixed feelings.)

Verdict:  somewhat Ineffable.

"First Time"

Remember once I told you about how before I heard it from your mouth, my name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound…  And the soul, if that's what you'd call it, uneasy ally of the body… It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground.  (Crowley, as Crawly, obviously, and possibly Zira as well, hearing Crowley speak his name.) 

And the first time that you kissed me, I drank dry the river Lethe.  (forgetfulness of everything that went before).  The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same.  (Earthly water—aka us—might not have been as painful)

But you spoke some quick new music, that went so far to soothe this soul.  As it was, and ever shall be.  (Zira, changing Crowley with every softly-uttered word, telling him he is worthy of love, Fallen or no.)

Unearth without a name; some part of me must have died the first time that you called me 'baby'.  And some part of me came alive the first time that you called me 'baby'.  (Crowley under new name, but also, substitute “Angel”, and this is obvious af.)

These days I think I owe my life to flowers that were left here by my mother.  Ain't that like them? Gifting life to you again.  This life lived mostly underground, unknowing either sight nor sound, till, reaching up for sunlight… just to be ripped out by the stem.  Sensing only now it's dying, drying out, then drowning blindly; blooming forth its every colour in the moments it has left.  (Zira talking about how Crowley became somehow infinitely more beautiful once Fallen… but what has he lost?) 

To share the space with simple living things; infinitely suffering, but fighting off, like all creation, the absence of itself.  (Crowley, raging about having Fallen, mirroring himself on the plants.)

Anyway, some part of me must have died each time that you called me 'baby'.  And some part of me stayed alive each time that you called me ‘baby’.  (Substitute name/Angel.  Identity, together, identity on Earth, etc.)

C'mere.  Whatever keeps you around, it keeps you around (both)

The last time it was heard out loud…  The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked to resignation, as the arguing declined.  (the kiss, obvs)

When I was young I used to guess; are there limits to any emptiness? (Crowley, alone, after)

When was the last time?  C'mere to me, when was the last time?  (Zira, after.)

Some part of me must have died, the final time you called me 'baby'.  But some part of me came alive, the final time you called me 'baby'.  (learning how to be apart, how to be their better selves, so that when and if they come together again, they’ll be better at it.  Painful now, but maybe a tiny bit hopeful, too?)

Verdict:  way too damn Ineffable, dammit.

"Francesca"

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?  (Zira, looking down after the kiss.)

Now that it's done, there's not one thing that I would change.  My life was a storm, since I was born.  How could I fear any hurricane? (Crowley, living on without him, defiant and unbowed.)

If someone asked me at the end, I'll tell them put me back in it!  Darling, I would do it again!  If I could hold you for a minute, darling, I'd go through it again!  I would still be surprised I could find you, darling, in any life.  If I could hold you for a minute, darling, I would do it again.  (obvious af, for both)

For all that was said, of where we'd end up at the end of it…  When the heart would cease; ours never knew peace.  What good would it be on the far side of things?  (looking back, both)

It was too soon, when that part of you was ripped away; a grip taking hold, like a cancer that grows. Each piece of your body that it takes.  Though I know my heart would break…  (both thinking they could have done it differently; would they feel like they were dying piece by piece?)

I'll tell them put me back in it.  Darling, I would do it again!  If I could hold you for a minute, darling, I'd go through it again!  I would still be surprised I could find you, darling, in any life.  If I could hold you for a minute; darling, I would do it again.  (both)

I would not change it each time.  Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I.  (As the fandom knows, this line TOTALLY CLINCHES IT.  Heaven isn’t.  They make their own!!!  And so they will survive this and come back together, here.  They’ll fight for it.)

Verdict:  INCREDIBLY Ineffable.

"I, Carrion (Icarian)"

(There’s just, like, whole reams of meta just in the dual title, here; about being dead, falling apart, remains only… plus Falling, but from each other this time…)

If the wind turns, if I hit a squall, allow the ground to find its brutal way to me… (honestly, both; Zira from heaven, Crowley just, in general)

I feel lighter than I have in so much time.  I’ve crossed the border-line of weightless.  One deep breath out from the sky… I’ve reached a rarer height now that I can confirm, all our weight is just a burden offered to us by the world.  (Zira ready to drop his remaining religious trauma/dogma, ready to realize that what they have is worth more than heaven can offer.)

And though I burn, how could I fall, when I am lifted up by every word you say to me?  If anything could fall at all, it’s the world that falls away from me.  (both)

You have me floating like a feather on the sea, while you’re as heavy as the world that you hold your hands beneath.  Once I wondered what was holding up the ground, but I can see that all along, love, it was you all the way down. (Crowley, looking up toward heaven-bound Zira.)

Leave it now, I am sky-bound. If you need to, darling, lean your weight to me. (Zira en route to heaven)

We'll float away... but if we fall, I only pray, don't fall away from me. (If this doesn't work, don’t leave me)

I do not have wings, love. I never will. (I can't follow you there, it's no longer my place)

Soaring over a world you are carrying. (Fighting for the world up there)

If these heights should bring my fall, let me be your own. (If I fall at least I can be with you)

If the wind turns, if I hit a squall, allow the ground to find its brutal way to me... if I should fall on that day... (if i was wrong...)

If I should fall on that day, I only pray... don't fall away from me. (Both, yearning.)

Verdict:  definitely Ineffable.

"Eat Your Young"

A protest song in the tradition of “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog (RIP Chris Cornell), and “Susquehanna” by LIVE.  Could be interpreted as the part of the journey where they help us here on Earth to fix the problems, etc, but…

Verdict:  Not Ineffable, but still incredible. 

"Damage Gets Done" (with Brandi Carlile) 

Without shame, two outfits then to my name.  You'd end up in one when you'd stay. We had nowhere to go and every desire for goin' there.  (them here on Earth for 6000 years, hopeful and happy just to be together.  The outfits line, esp.  They really don’t change clothes all that much; esp Zira, lol) 

I heard once, it’s the comforts that make us numb.  We’d go out with no way to get home, and we’d sleep on somebody’s floor, and wake up feeling like a millionaire. (Crowley in those short four years, living as much as possible at the bookshop, trying not to think about how it could all fall apart at any moment.)

Wish I'd known it was just our turn.  We just got by.  Being blamed for a world we had no power in, but we tried.  You and I had nothing to show.  We didn’t know.  (looking back now it’s all fallen apart; no control over their own happiness, the constant underlying existential fear…)

But the best of the world in the palm of our hands.  Anything, darling.  And darling, I haven't felt it since then.  I don't know how the feeling ended; but I know being reckless and young is not how the damage gets done.  (yeah, them being together and in love was NOT the problem, and they’ll do anything to get it back.  Zira, esp. in this part; fighting hard up there to make it safe for them to be together, finally.)

One time, we would want for nothin.  One time we had it all, love.  We knew what our love was worth when we had nothing.  Now we're always missing something.  I miss when we did not need much. (Crowley, when all he needed was to be near Aziraphale) 

If the car ran, the car was enough.  If the sun shone on us, it's a plus; and the tank was always filled up.  Only enough for our getting there.  (obvious Bentley stuff, here!  Just them together, going places, going nowhere, as long as they were together.)

That first car was like wings on an angel, before the whole wide world got too thin.  I swear, goodwill kept up the engine.  You were steering my heart like a wheel in your hands. (obvs Zira in the Bentley with Crowley, just happy to be together; a la 1941 date-night.) 

You flew away from me then. Turn back, darling.  (Crowley, obvs)  

And darling, I haven't felt it since then.  I don't know how the feeling ended, but I know being reckless and young is not how the damage gets done. (recommitment to coming back together.)

All I needed was someone, when the whole wide world felt young.  (nostalgia for when it was oddly easier, even though things were still scary and complicated, just because at least they were together.)

Verdict:  somewhat Ineffable, very deeply nostalgic.

"Who We Are"

You only feel it when it's lost.  Getting through still has a cost.  Quietly, it slips through your fingers, love; falling from you drop by drop.  (Both, maybe more Zira?) 

What I had left here…  I just held it tight, so someone with your eyes might come in time, to hold me like water…  Or, Christ, hold me like a knife.  (Crowley, wondering even if Zira comes back would he even be the same person?  Or just the archangel?) 

We're born at night.  So much of our lives is just carving through the dark, to get so far.  And the hardest part… is who we are.  It's who we are.  (Both, obviously pondering if they are impossible just because of what they are.)

You and I burned out our steam, chasing someone else's dream.  How can something be so much heavier, but so much less than what it seems?  Darling, we sacrificed.  We gave our time to something undefined.  This phantom life sharpens like an image… but it sharpens like a knife.  (both, thinking about how other people have been in control of them for too long, how much they had to give up to try to keep it, while not daring to define it.  Now they’ve defined it, it’s cutting them to pieces.)

And the hardest part... is who we are.  That's who we are.  You only feel it when it's lost.  Getting through still has its cost.  Quietly, it slips through your fingers, love; fallin' from you drop by drop.  (obvious af and incredibly hurtful)

Verdict:  painfully Ineffable.

"Son of Nyx"

Instrumental, with wailing, distorted lyrics including sobbing, gut-wrenching keening, loss, melancholy, beauty, and:  “See how it shines…” & “Darlin’…” & “Before our chance was gone…” (and possibly some stuff cribbed from Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig In The Sky”)

Verdict:  could be Ineffable if you want it to be.

“All Things End"

A two-tonne weight around my chest feels like it just dropped a twenty-storey height.  If there was anyone to ever get through this life with their heart still intact, they didn't do it right.  (both)

The last time I felt your weight on my chest, you said, "We didn't get it right but, love, we did our best."  (this one really hurts, dammit) 

And we will again; moving on in time and taking more from everything that ends; and all things end.  All that we intend… is scrawled in sand… or slips right through our hands.  And just knowing that everything will end should not change our plans, when we begin again.  (painful, but also bittersweet, and hopeful?)

I have never known a silence like the one fallen here.  Never watched my future darken in a single tear.  (exactly) 

I know we want this to go easy by being somebody's fault, but we've gone long enough to know this isn't what we want. (definitely both had some part in that last fifteen minutes!) 

And that isn't always bad.  When people say that something is forever…  Either way, it ends; and all things end.  (“Oh, Crowley, nothing lasts forever…”  But, that only makes room for something new and better to grow in its place!  (hopefully w/ better communication, lol)) 

All that we intend… is scrawled in sand, or slips right through our hands.  And just knowing that everything will end should not change our plans, when we begin again.  Knowing we can always start again, knowing we have another day… Should not change our plans, when we begin again. (If they want this, they have to seize it with both hands and make it work, make the next day happen!!!)

Verdict:  Utterly Ineffable, why are you doing this to us, Andrew?!

"To Someone from a Warm Climate (Uiscefhuaraithe)" 

A joy, hard learned in winter was the warming of the bed.  You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs.  Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within.  Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin.  (translation) Water-sounding…  (looking back from a future spent together… when the sound of your breathing and your heartbeat echoes in your ears, and being together and warm is everything… especially looking forward from a time when everything seems cold)

The feel of coldness only water brings…  There are some things that no one teaches you, love, that come natural as a dream you didn't know that you were in.  (this is all very hopeful of a future spent together in the South Downs!) 

And darling, all my dreaming is only put to shame.  And darling, all my dreaming has only been given a name.  (we can only hope) 

But it came easy, darling; as natural as another leg around you in the bed frame.  (and it will, once we get there!)

In summer's heat, I learned to dread the coming of the night, the awful things we do to make the head go quiet.  (being without each other…) 

…There are some things that no-one teaches you, love, that God in his awful wisdom first programs in.  (this is all part of the ineffable plan!)

…And I wish I could say that the river of my arms have found the ocean.  I wish I could say the cold lake water of my heart; Christ, it's boiling over.  But it happened easy, darling; natural as another leg around you in the bed frame.  (them falling apart happened way too easily, they both wish they could say it wasn’t like this right now.)

Verdict:  Ineffable, cruel shit here.

“Butchered Tongue"

A song all about how Colonial England tried to destroy the Irish language and nearly succeeded. 

Verdict:  not Ineffable, but tragic and still capable of destroying one’s heart.

“Anything But"

Come here to me. I wish I was a mayfly on the river Tay (a mayfly only lives for one day, but it’s a beautiful day full of life) 

I'd fit all my joys and my pleasures in one perfect day.  I wish I was the sunlight just sitting on The Mississippi… (lasting forever, trying to fit it all into what little time they might have…) 

I'd settle for a shopping trolley in The Liffey (I'd trade heaven and hell, all the faraway, for a simple life on Earth together).

In a shot I'd swap my body for a body of water.  Worry the cliff side top as a wave crashing over.  I'd lower the world in a flood; or better yet, I'd cause a drought.  If I was a rip tide, I wouldn't take you out.  (a lot of metaphor in here… the water can destroy the shore, but the shore without the water, or vice-versa, is endless and undefined…  The land is dry and lifeless.  And both are lonely.  We need our opposites to give us meaning.) 

I don't wanna be anything; but I would do anything just to run away.  I don't wanna be anything like this at all… but I would do anything if you'd hear me say, “Oh, yeah, hey, go look another way.”  (Crowley, wanting to be with Zira, anywhere; Alpha Centauri, please just look at me and not Heaven!  Let us make our own, here!)

Look, I wanna be loud; so loud, I'm talking seismic.  I wanna be soft as a single stone in a rainstick.  I wanna be the thunder of a hundred thousand hooves moving quick.  If I was a stampede, you wouldn't get a kick.  I wanna be the shadow when my bright future's behind me.  I wanna be the last thing anybody ever sees.  (you could take a million things from these metaphors!)

I hear he touches your hand, and then you fly away together.  If I had his job, you would live forever.  (obviously, if I was your forever, that would be enough, I want us to run away together instead…  I want you to be the you you were with me, not this other guy you’ve turned into…)

(Chorus again, ibid)

Verdict:  mildly Ineffable.

"Abstract (Psychopomp)"

(first just let me freak tf out that someone is writing actually popular songs who can not only reference the Allegory of the Cave (Plato), but also (ALSO!) knows the meaning of the word “psychopomp” (ie the god or archetype who escorts the dead across the Styx to Hades, with all it means to be that compassionate escort amid the transition from one state to another; from living to death... and *especially* with how Hozier represents the dying of parts of oneself in order to fit into/exit relationships!!!!) 

Ok:

Sometimes it returns, like rain that you slept through. (the memories we can't escape, assaulting us despite our best efforts, to torture us... like there was never a love (because these two and rainstorms))

The worst of the world; the streets looking brand new.  I will not be great, but I'm grateful to get through.  The feeling came late, I'm still glad I met you.  The memory hurts, but does me no harm.  Your hand in my pocket, to keep us both warm. (Coming to terms with what was lost)

The poor thing in the road its eye still glistening.  The cold wet of your nose; the Earth from a distance.  See how it shines!  (the unbearable beauty of breaking up, and of looking back on what you had, and lost, and what has died.)

Sometimes there's a thought, like you choose what you're doing.  But it comes to naught when I look back through it.  (they tried to choose each other, but couldn’t make it stick, too much outside of them made them do something else.)

I remember the view, streetlights in the dark blue…  The moment I knew I'd no choice but to love you.  (1941, obviously Zira here)

The speed that you moved, the screech of the cars…  The creature still moving, that slowed in your arms.  The fear in its eyes, gone out in an instant.  Your tear caught the light; the Earth from a distance.  See how it shines!  (the speed was too fast, something died, and now I’m here, lookingdown from so far away (also Zira, obvs))

Darling, there's a part of me I'm afraid will always be trapped within an abstract from a moment of my life.  The weeds up through the concrete, the traffic picking up speed.  All my love and terror balanced there between those eyes…  See how it shines!

(The kiss, obviously, and the desperate hope that there will be more after this broken moment)

Verdict:  Ineffable, painful shit, here.

"Unknown / Nth"

You know, the distance never made a difference to me.  I swam a lake of fire; I’d have walked across the floor of any sea…  (Crowley, obviously.  None of it mattered; what they were, none of it.  He just wanted to be with Aziraphale)

ignored the vastness between all that can be seen, and all that we believe.  So, I thought you were like an angel to me.  (this hurts so much, him questioning what they were to each other after that damn kiss!)

Funny how true colours shine in darkness and in secrecy.  (they had to be themselves, the best of Us, when they lied and hid it.  The contrast of that, compared to the blinding truth of saying it out loud)

If there were scarlet flags, they washed out in the mind of me.  (this one REALLY HURTS)

Where a blinding light shone on you every night, and either side of my sleep…  Where you were held frozen like an angel to me.  (in that one moment they carved out for themselves, here…)

It ain't the being alone.  It ain't the empty home, baby.  You know I'm good on my own.  Baby, you know… it’s more the being unknown.  So much of the living, love, is the being unknown.  (him lamenting, feeling like Zira never really knew or understood him.  OUCH)

You called me angel for the first time; my heart leapt from me.  You smile now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth.  And what’s left of it, I listen to it tick; every tedious beat.  (Zira looking back on what he had with Crowley, and on the last fifteen minutes… and now, how everything is just meaningless, without him)

Going unknown as any angel to me.  (both; Zira because he realizes he has nothing in common with the others, and Crowley thinking, was he always just one of them, to me, really?  I thought he knew me)

Do you know I could break beneath the weight of the goodness, love, I still carry for you?  That I’d walk so far just to take… the injury of finally knowing you. (both)

It ain't the being alone.  It ain't the empty home, baby.  You know I'm good on my own.  Baby, you know, it’s more the being unknown. (both, lamenting the feeling that they never really understood each other the way they thought they did, and now they’re alone.)

And there are some people, love, who are better unknown.  (I can’t even deal with this last line, and I refuse to accept it.)

Verdict:  Ineffable, in a murderous kind of way.

"First Light"

One bright morning changes all things.  Soft and easy as your breathing, you wake.  Your eyes open at first a thousand miles away… but turning, shoot a silver bullet point-blank range… and I can scarce believe what I'm believing in. Could this be how every day begins?  The sky set to burst; the gold and the rust.  The colour erupts.  You, filling my cup.  The sun coming up… like I lived my whole life… before the first light.  (this is them finally coming back together, and I will die on that hill)

One bright morning goes so easy.  Darkness always finds you either way.  It creeps into the corners as the moment fades.  A voice your body jumps to, calling out your name… but after this, I'm never gonna be the same… and I am never going back again!  (they will never make the same mistakes.  Knowing how wrong it all was without each other, they will keep this, hold onto it at all costs)

The sky set to burst; the gold and the rust.  The colour erupts.  You, filling my cup.  The sun coming up… like I lived my whole life… before the first light!

(hopeful crescendo… and obviously they will come back together and be happy, dammit!)

Verdict:  Ineffable, and a total fucking relief, after that Incredibly Painful album!!! Thank fuck he put this one here, or i might have died over this album the way i did over that last 15 (i mean, i did, on some lines that literally punched me right in the heart and caused me actual physical discomfort)... but since he was kind and put this here, we can have hope!!!

Overall… this album is incredibly Ineffable, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne is a poet who knows how to destroy people with words. But we already knew that. Also, this thing coming out at the same time as GO2 p. much really inextricably links it forever to the Ineffable Divorce, for a lot of us... which makes it a whole other level of hitting harder!

[lisascumslut78]

AND THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU KISSED ME I DRANK DRY THE RIVER LETHE THE LIFFEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SOFTER ON MY STOMACH ALL THE SAME BUT YOU SPOKE SOME QUICK NEW MUSIC THAT WENT SO FAR TO SOOTHE THIS SOUL AS IT WAS AND EVER SHALL BE, UNEARTH WITHOUT A NAME SOME PART OF ME MUST HAVE DIED THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU CALLED ME, "BABY" AND SOME PART OF ME CAME ALIVE THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU CALLED ME, "BABY"

[jadevine]

Unreal Unearth reactions!

While I got stuck on "First Time" for a few hours, I am baffled at how people seem to think the album's "too bluesy." This dude has ALWAYS done at least one folk/blues song per album. Are people just mad because he's not doing more "IRISH BOG MAN" songs?

I made the naive decision to look at some reviews of Unreal Unearth, which lasted until I read a review where the person said it's a weak album where he now sounds "normal/pop" and "defanged" except for two songs.

You know what this sounds like to me as an artist? Like he's playing with styles. If I really had to lock down a "theme" to the album, I find it more pop-standard or wartime-music than anything else, and his melodies and octave-stretching are never going to be "regular music."

Behind the cut for length.

--

-De Selby Part 1 - lovely way to start the album, but it might be too quiet for some. This is the kind of song I'd put on when I need to decompress and potentially fall asleep, which is a really good compliment from my high-strung and insomniac ass.

Gonna look up the posts from fans about what the Irish verses say, but I will talk about Shared Colonization Issues in Butchered Tongue. Lovely song, but I think its placement was off as one of the quietest tracks. I would have put this and "De Selby Part 2" with Butchered Tongue and made another song the first track, so people get warmed up.

--

-De Selby Part 2 - most definitely a callback to his soul sound, but with the bass and electric bits, it starts to feel more like motown or funk. Very dark and almost grungy bass, and I like it. This is a song that people would ask to use for a movie's climax, or for a big-money episode of a TV show--a season-finale, a long-awaited fight, or even the end of the show.

--

-First Time - my immediate favorite. GET READY FOR AN ESSAY, LOL. So I think Andrew's voice is perfect for big-band/swing and it feels like a follow-up to "Someone New" on his debut album. Andrew has the high notes, the low notes, and the flexibility to pull off jazz melodies, so this is just a really nice song for him to do some big vocal/melody stretches. If anyone knows the cover-band Postmodern Jukebox where they cover songs in old-time styles, covering "First Time" would be redundant unless they specifically rework it in the least jazzy style, BUT!!! I think PMJ would do a fantastic collaboration if they just get all their musicians and singers to back up Hozier!

In true Hozier style, this song is adorable and yet the lyrics talk about severe depression, with how the singer used to hate hearing people say his name and his actual soul was miserable.

Remember once I told you about How before I heard it from your mouth My name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound And the soul, if that's what you'd call it Uneasy ally of the body, it felt nameless as a river Undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the River Lethe The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same But you spoke some quick new music That went so far to soothe this soul As it was and ever shall be, unearth without a name

When you take it literally, this gives me a lot of Filipino Spirituality Feelings. Our souls are said to wander when we 1) sleep, 2) get the shit scared out of us WHILE we sleep (such as a nightmare), 3) go hiking in the wilderness and our soul gets distracted and forgets to catch up, and 4) are possibly ill/stressed in general, because I thinnnnnnk some people believe certain illnesses are a sign of poor spiritual health. Do not take my word, though.

Normally we can just call our souls back because souls LIKE staying near their bodies--but like children, you gotta keep an eye on them. If your soul is too far away or if they stay out too long, they risk getting lost and/or kidnapped by a witch.

That's usually when your local folk-healer, relative-who-deals-with-the-spirits, or a GOOD witch has to do a reverse-exorcism/gang interrogation. I say "gang interrogation" because a lot of times, people start magically injuring you with special items, and that would actually be hurting THE WITCH wherever they are, which forces them to stop and give your soul back.

So Filipino Hozier's soul has been wandering beneath the earth, in the aquifers and caves and deep rivers, and he can't get it to come back. His family would be calling their relative-who-deals-with-the-spirits because "hey Tito/Tita, we think Kuya Hozier's soul got kidnapped! He's always miserable, and we don't know why!" until Significant Other arrives and the song gets Much, Much Happier.

"First Time" is a fucking adorable bop. It's peppy and I want to frolic on the beach! The chorus is also PRIME "misaimed wedding playlist" bait for people who don't listen to the rest of the lyrics.

Some part of me must have died The first time that you called me, "Baby" And some part of me came alive The first time that you called me, "Baby."

Like FUCK, this chorus is lovely. So pleasant and full of sunshine. But the rest of the song is bittersweet because uh, the couple has clearly broken up at the end. The singer does understand that this is life and you just gotta take the good with the bad.

I love Andrew's vocalizing from earlier albums, so I'm surprised he barely did any in a song that clearly harkens to jazz. But the melody roams a lot, so he might have thought scat-singing was too much for now. If he does this live, I am begging Future-Hozier to cut loose and improvise between the verses.

--

-Butchered Tongue - Another great song, but for the least-fun reasons. Time for severe mood-whiplash, as TV Tropes says. FILIPINO COLONIZATION FEELINGS AHOY.

This song is devastating, as a Filipino-American who enjoys languages but cannot speak her family's language (Tagalog) much better than a five-year-old.

Many people have the mistaken belief that Tagalog is "half/mostly Spanish," but IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT. Back in the 1500s, the only people who were guaranteed to know Spanish on the islands were the Spanish-born/descended nobles, their servants, and the monasteries, and that was like the top 10% of society if not less. The closest we got was the Chavacano creole, and it still used a lot of Austronesian grammar and reduplication.

I also used to think Tagalog was half-Spanish, but that lasted right up until I tried to watch "Like Water For Chocolate" without the English subtitles, lmao. I'm pretty sure I only understand as much Spanish as I do because I live in California, which used to be Mexico. Sure, Tagalog borrowed some basic Spanish words like basura, caballo, and kumusta, but we still have native equivalents like "taponan," "kuda," or "magandang araw/gabi." The bulk of our language is still firmly Austronesian and when I was growing up, I usually heard people call Tagalog "ugly" or "weird."

So we didn't learn much Spanish, but guess which colonizer DID impose their language on us so they could "civilize" us for the modern world? AMERICA, THAT'S WHO!

My parents didn't teach me Tagalog when I was young because they didn't want me to grow up with an accent, and this is a problem as a struggling writer. Here I am, trying to incorporate Filipino mythology and language into my work--but while I understand Tagalog and I know how to read words/names, I can't actually SPEAK IT in a conversation unless it's really basic, and I still sound like a five-year-old. I have to rely on online Tagalog translators for a lot, and I'm never really sure if the grammar is right, or if the words are actually Bisayan or Ilokano because the dictionary I used is operating with the "Filipino language" that isn't properly Tagalog, but a mishmash of drastically different languages.

Some Filipinos from the homeland mock the diaspora for not being able to speak our languages well, and they usually say we're "not really Filipino" or "not Filipino enough." I have gotten a couple of comments wondering why I bother to learn baybayin, if I barely know what I'm actually WRITING in it.

As a Filipino-American, the impression that I get from Butchered Tongue is, "The language barrier forced on you by colonizers has swept you away from your ancestors/family like a great wave. You yearn to go back home and speak your family's language, but the damage is done; there is no one left to teach you, or nobody who WANTS to teach you. Is there really a place you can call 'home' if neither your colonizers nor your people accept you as theirs?"

People often feel that their voice changes when they switch languages, and I wonder what I'd sound like if I could speak GOOD Tagalog. But instead I stumble around with my childish speaking abilities trapped behind decent reading skills and baybayin, and sometimes it feels like I got my tongue cut off.

If you asked me to speak Tagalog right now, you will hear the gears turning in my head, and I'm always worried that I'll butcher it. If I think too hard, I will panic and forget the words for basic body parts, or how to count to ten properly.

A+ song about Ireland's colonization. If this was the only good song in this album, Unreal Unearth would be worth it. You did it again, you fucking giant Irishman.

[dreams-in-jail]

First Time by Hozier: Unreal Unearth

this is so sad I want to cry just thinking about it. Who broke this man's heart.

Hozier starts singing 'My name would always hit my ears/ as such an awful sound' and then, 'but you spoke some quick new music/that went so far to soothe this soul'. The first time my name sounded right was when I heard you say it. Only to end the song, singing almost desperately and in sad resignation, 'when was the last time?'.

Also it's said this song represents the first circle of Hell from Dante's Inferno. This is for the people who did not accept God; their punishment is that they will not be tormented nor will they see Heaven. Just forever feel the emptiness that comes with it. Hence 'as it was and ever shall be, unearth without a name'. And he's in limbo the way a part of him dies, yet some part comes alive.

[tragedykery]

THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU KISSED ME I DRANK DRY THE RIVER LETHE

THE LIFFEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SOFTER ON MY STOMACH ALL THE SAME BUT YOU SPOKE SOME QUICK NEW MUSIC THAT WENT SO FAR TO SOOTHE THIS SOUL AS IT WAS AND EVER SHALL BE UNEARTH WITHOUT A NAME

[cookie-de-baunilha]

new hozier album just dropped and with it another song for my john/percy playlist 🫣

Remember once I told you about How before I heard it from your mouth My name would always hit my ears As such an awful sound And the soul, if that’s what you’d call it Uneasy ally of the body It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the river Lethe The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same But you spoke some quick new music That went so far to soothe this soul As it was And ever shall be Unearth without a name

HMM EXCUSE ME???

The overall theme of Hozier’s Unreal Unearth is Dante’s Inferno. The song First Time represents the first circle of hell, Limbo, where the non-Christians and the unbaptized are punished.

In my interpretation of the song, the narrator is (re)discovering their identity through love and heartbreak and the way their lover calls (names) them. The idea of name and identity being connected to Limbo (the unbaptized souls).

In the pre-chorus when he says “And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the river Lethe” he’s saying that his lover made him forget about his past life/past damage and made him a new person, with a new life and identity.

It reminds me so much of Percy and his relationship with John 😭

Like, all the name references: “My name would always hit my ears / As such an awful sound”; “[the soul] It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground”; “Unearth without a name”.

Percy’s oppressive religious background and the fact that he hates his real name, so he never told it to anyone but John. And the first time that he heard his real name being spoken by John was perhaps the first time in his life that his name didn’t sound “awful” to him.

Some part of me must have died The first time you called me “baby” And some part of me came alive The first time you called me “baby”

Percy's relationship with John was something very important and significant to him. It changed him, like "drinking the waters of the Lethe": letting go of a past life and becoming a new person (some part of me must have died / and some part of me came alive).

Of course, Percy never forgets his childhood trauma, that's not how it works. But he is able to share a personal secret, one that he had never shared before, one that was deeply tied to his identity. When he tells John his name, he is also opening himself to the possibility of resignifying it (which, again, fits the theme of dying and coming alive at the same moment - losing something to gain something).

John calls Percy's act of sharing his name a "gift". He knows the importance of it.

Percy also has a sense of unworthiness to him, but he tries to do better because he wants to be with John (even though it doesn't work in the end). He breaks the affair with Mr. A. before he starts his relationship with John. He also denies Michael's first offer.

Also Percy’s name is something that is constantly changing, which relates to him rebranding himself, especially after his relationship with John is over.

Perseverance Wainwright (his real name, tied to his childhood trauma) -> Percy/Percival Wainwright (the name he chose for himself before exile) -> Percy/Percival Beauchamp (the name he “chose”, by marriage, after exile, becoming a French nobleman).

Some part of me must have died The final time you called me “baby” And some part of me came alive The final time you called me “baby

The heartbreak was painful, but again, is representative of ���drinking the waters of the Lethe” to Percy. He changes a lot, too, after the break up. Again, a new person.

He is a different man in Echo, both because of his relationship with John and because of the way it ended.

The song being thematically linked to Dante’s first circle of hell is also something that reminds me of Percy. His religious trauma strayed him from Christianity, so he is not a religious person but he still fears damnation because of his conservative religious upbringing. The first circle (Limbo) is where the virtuous non-Christians are punished in a “lesser” version of Heaven.