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I COVER STORY : HOZIER
rish folk-rocker Andrew Hozier-Byrne – who records and performs as simply Hozier – has been caught in the subtle currents of spiritual change since he turned 33 this March . It ’ s the fabled Christ age , when your proper career trajectory is clearly revealed to you , giving you a crucial choice to follow it or not . “ I feel that happening , I do , and I feel very good ,” the blues-schooled “ Take Me to Church ” singer says , and it ’ s a concept perfectly exemplified on his majestic new “ Unreal Unearth ” album , his third , as well as his recent introductory EP Eat Your Young . “ And I think there ’ s a lot of stuff exorcised on it , a lot of stuff spothat ’ s very personal , and there ’ s some stuff that I ’ m finally just sitting and coming to peace with and then letting go of .”
And it ’ s a sea change you can veritably chart , song by carefully-plotted song , over the sixteen generous tracks of Unreal Unearth . Hozier ’ s voice itself acts as a symphonic instrument . And that ’ s just the first half of the magnum opu . What does it all mean ? First , Hozier has to paint an appropriately dark pandemic backdrop , how the world closed in on him during the lockdown in his provincial Irish hometown of Wicklow . Tom Lanham spoke to the Irish icon .
HELLO , MY NAME IS TOMMY STINSON
Ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson was affected when the coronavirus hit him , post-lockdown , it smacked him upside the scruffy head and just kept knocking him senseless . “ That was horrible , and I ’ m still reeling from it ,” the rasp-throated rock rapscallion recalls from his rustic home in upstate New York . “ And I ’ ve had Covid a couple , three , maybe four times now , and it was brutal every single time . But luckily enough , it didn ’ t kill me , obviously , and I ’ ve taken every booster they ’ ve had to offer , and I ’ ll take the next one when they offer it to avoid getting it again . And lucky for my kiddo that she was able to live through it , as well .” ‘ Kiddo ,’ being the operative parental term for his 15-year-old daughter Lulu , whose raising has come to mean more to Stinson than all of his frequent moonlighting obligations combined . The project Stinson is currently pushing — or the only one he has time for — is Cowboys in the Campfire , the folksy duo he formed with Pennsylvania-bred guitarist Chip Roberts , the uncle of his second ex-wife . Their debut disc , Wronger , is an acoustic , banjo-buttressed affair that splashes streaks of the pedal-steel country across a few forlorn Nashville schematics . Stinson spoke to Tom Lanham .
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File
Hello My Name is Russell from Sparks .
CinemScopes
Oppenheimer leads the July film pack .
Spins
Moon , Foo Fighters , Juliana Hatfield and more .
Media
Rick interviews radio and media pioneer , Larry Wert .
Calendar
1300 shows and 3000 bands , it ’ s IE ’ s live music calendar .
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