It’s been quite the decade for Andrew Hozier-Byrne. Back in 2013, the Wicklow-born Irish singer was honing his craft in Dublin’s Trinity College, with songs that would later appear on his acclaimed debut album still being hashed out in empty rehearsal spaces and cramped attics.
Just a few months later, Take Me to Church’s story of a romantic relationship between two men and Catholic oppression caught fire on YouTube, topping the charts in 12 countries and earning the music student a record deal.
Recording in his parents’ attic, Hozier’s soulful delivery captured something uniquely Irish at a tumultuous time in Ireland, which reckoned with divisive referendums on same-sex marriage and abortion rights in the years that followed. It seemed like an impassioned call to arms for a country throwing off its conservative shackles. It's no wonder massive shows and award nominations followed.
