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“Take Me to Church” opens with a simple piano pattern and Hozier’s baritone voice, creating a stark texture built mostly on consonant intervals in the beginning. The song moves at a slow, adagio tempo, which gives it a hymn-like pacing and makes each phrase feel heavy and deliberate. The melody is mostly conjunct, moving stepwise and remaining easy to follow, which mirrors the directness of a church chant or liturgical singing. As the chorus arrives, the arrangement expands with drums, layered backing vocals, and a strong gospel-influenced harmonic progression, creating a dramatic lift. The contrast between the soft verses and the explosive chorus emphasizes the song’s critique of institutional power by turning a familiar "sacred" sound into something darker and more urgent. The steady harmonic rhythm and minor key add emotional weight, supporting the intensity of the lyrics.
“Cherry Wine” is recorded almost entirely with fingerpicked acoustic guitar and voice, making it one of Hozier’s most intimate-sounding tracks. The tempo sits in a moderato range, but the gentle picking pattern makes it feel slower and more delicate. The melody is conjunct, with small intervals that create a lullaby-like quality. Interestingly, the music uses mostly consonant harmonies, which directly contrasts with the song’s subject matter. Ambient background noise (the faint sound of wind and birds) gives the track a natural, open-air resonance, reinforcing its vulnerability. Because the guitar voicing leans toward warm major shapes, the listener might initially interpret the song as tender, even though the lyrics reveal a deeper complexity about harm and denial.
This track is built around piano, organ (Booker T. Jones), steady drums, and a gospel choir, creating a full, resonant texture. The tempo is allegro moderato, giving the song forward motion without feeling rushed. The melody is more disjunct than in Hozier’s ballads, especially in the chorus where he leaps between registers to create a sense of urgency. Staples' voice brings additional timbre variation, with her gritty, soulful tone cutting through the arrangement. The music layers consonant harmonies with brief moments of intentional dissonance, especially in the choir, which adds emotional tension and mimics the feeling of a protest chant building momentum. The dynamic growth (from a restrained opening to a powerful, multi-voice climax) reflects the theme of collective rising.
“Movement” begins with sparse piano chords and voice before gradually adding drums, bass, and organ. The tempo is adagio to moderato, slow but with enough pulse to feel like a physical sway. The melody is mostly conjunct in the verses but becomes more disjunct in the chorus when Hozier leaps into higher notes to mirror emotional intensity. The harmonic progression relies on rich, consonant chords that bloom as the song continues, supported by swelling dynamics. The song’s repetitive motifs and increasing density create a sensation of forward motion, almost like choreography built into the instrumentation. The use of vocal layering near the climax also adds a dramatic, almost cinematic texture.
“Eat Your Young” uses a blend of synth pads, layered harmonies, bass-heavy percussion, and smooth vocal phrasing, giving it a modern art-pop feel. The tempo sits in moderato, giving it a steady, almost seductive groove. The melody is mostly conjunct, but the phrasing has wide, sliding motions that make it feel fluid rather than rigid. Harmonically, the song uses lush consonance with moments of slight dissonance that underline the satirical, unsettling tone of the lyrics. The production feels polished and atmospheric, with reverb and echo effects creating a sense of space. The contrast between a smooth, almost warm timbre and dark lyrical imagery makes the track feel intentionally disorienting.
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