荒野烈爱 (2019)

Wasteland, Baby! is the second studio album by Irish musician Hozier, released on 1 March 2019 by Rubyworks Records. It is Hozier's first album since 2014. The album includes the songs "Nina Cried Power" and "Shrike" from the 2018 EP Nina Cried Power as well as the single "Movement". It was promoted by a North American tour beginning in March 2019 and a European tour in late summer to fall 2019. Wasteland, Baby! debuted atop the Irish Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 and has since been certified gold in the US.

Background and writing

After touring his debut album, Hozier took a one-year hiatus from his work, moving back to Ireland to "reconnect". He stated that he became a "news junkie" and wrote much of the album's material "trying to reconcile" his own "concerns and anxieties" regarding humanity when the Doomsday Clock moved two minutes to midnight in 2018. The themes encompass apocalyptic imagery in "cultural" and "moral wastelands" within a backdrop of personal connection and intimacy; influenced by the seeking of "hope" and "warmth" amidst major global events such as climate change, the European migrant crisis, the rise of neo-nationalism and Brexit. Such doubling concepts are expanded on in tracks like "Shrike", "Be", "No Plan" and "Wasteland, Baby!".

Of course, despair and fatigue, they absolutely creep in, and they certainly did at many points. A lot of people, certainly like a lot of Irish people … have a very, very close, healthy relationship with despair, which is not always a bad thing; you know what I mean?...I think there’s wonderful things to explore in that...we’re living in very interesting times, and in many ways, unprecedented times. I’ve always held that there’s always that holding onto a sort of optimism [...] finding some silver lining, something to hang onto, and something that provides you with some amount of hope and gives you some sense of faith in people and faith in the kindness that people are capable of...That’s what a lot of the songs on the record were trying to reach for.

The album's lyrical and musical conception was influenced by featuring artist Mavis Staples as well as the literature of T.S Eliot, W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney. Stylistically, Hozier aimed for "music that hit a little bit harder, that leaned into rhythm a little bit more" than his debut record. He first came up with the ideas for "Movement" and "Nina Cried Power" on the piano and states that he had a "bad habit" of "trying to write six, seven, eight songs at once" while writing the record. Hozier has stated that he was "reluctant" to draw inspiration from tour life, with the months he spent at home in the Irish countryside "living a normal life enabled [him] to absorb things". Hozier spent the last 18 months prior to Wasteland, Baby!'s release working on the album. The exclamation mark in the title of the album is “quite important,” and signifies “ the wry smile” in his lyricism, blending "experiences of devastation and joy".

Music and lyrics

Wasteland, Baby! is just under an hour long, containing fourteen tracks in total. The record features a guest appearances from blues singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples on "Nina Cried Power" and instrumentalist Booker T. Jones on "Be" and "Sunlight". The tracks were written entirely by Hozier with the exception of "As It Was", which was co-written with Alex Ryan. The album was produced by Hozier, Markus Dravs, Rob Kirwan, and Ariel Rechtshaid. Wasteland, Baby! is a soul R&B and folk-influenced record. The album features gospel choral backing, pulpit-rattling percussion gentle vocals, and varied instrumentation with bluesy organs and guitar containing a mix of pop-culture references and personal sentiment. The album also returns to Biblical and naturalistic imagery, invoking romantic symbolism.

Songs

"Nina Cried Power" opens the album with a bluesy, soulful track featuring a strong drumbeat and supporting vocals by Mavis Staples. It sees Hozier lyrically reference artists he found inspirational during the song-writing process - among those mentioned are Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Duke Ellington. The following track, "Almost (Sweet Music)," also refers to American popular music.

Many tracks on the album, like the aforementioned "Nina Cried Power" as well as "Movement" and "To Noise Making (Sing)", feature a gospel choir. "Movement" is an R&B ballad that compares the summons of love to an awe-inspiring dance, while the latter features a one-word refrain with dreamy, echoing vocals.

"Shrike" is among many folk-inspired tracks on the album, which sees Hozier lamenting his inability to voice his lost love - the title an ode to the Shrike bird. "Dinner & Diatribes" marks a slight stylistic change, and is more country-influenced. "Sunlight" features a funk-organ and lyrical allusion, comparing the gospel of love to the myth of Icarus.