okay so I love our resident bog man as much as the next lesbian but I have an even deeper respect for his music/art after I watched this video explaining the process and symbolism behind the album art
here’s the album art. a cool photograph of Hozier looking pensive underwater, right? WRONG! It’s a PAINTING done by his mom Raine Hozier-Byrne that uses some cool photos they took as its source material!!
so basically if you zoom in you can see images on Hozier’s arm and chest
this one is an image of a protester throwing a can of tear gas back at police - i’m pretty sure it’s from this photo I found of anti-police brutality protests in Baltimore after a young black man named Freddie Gray was violently arrested and subsequently died in custody
and the image on his chest shows migrants disembarking a flimsy boat on a beach somewhere
(i couldn’t find the exact image this was based off of)
both of these very politically charged themes can be found within several songs on his album, for example
“And I could cry power Power has been cried by those stronger than me Straight into the face that tells you to Rattle your chains if you love being free” -Nina Cried Power
“When the man who gives the order Is born next time ‘round on the boat sent back When the bodies starvin’ at the border Are on TV givin’ people the sack” -Be
anyways
putting these images on the front of his album is a powerful statement and i didn’t want it to go unnoticed because people (like me) didn’t see the details in the cover artwork at first
I know everyone knows Hozier as the immortal fae being who lives deep in the forest but I just wanted to bring attention to his very politically relevant and poignant choices in the lyrics and cover art
