Jo's Picks Of The Month is a regular monthly contribution, published exclusively in the Sound Café magazine with the intention of providing you with information on artists that you might not have heard of, but I think are truly worth exploring further.
HOZIER
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier, is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter. His music is folk, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking political or social justice stances. In 2013 the single "Take Me To Church" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In February 2015 the song was nominated at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for Song of the Year. He performed the song with Annie Lennox at the Grammys. Shortly after Hozier took a one year hiatus from his work, moving back to Ireland to reconnect after touring his debut album.
In October 2021, Hozier released the single "Tell It To My Heart" in collaboration with Meduza, which debuted at number 13 on the Irish single chart.
In October 2022 the single "Swan Upon Leda" was released. Atwood magazine praised the song as "a haunting and heartbreakingly beautiful prayer, plea, and cry for reproductive rights and women's empowerment. In March 2024, Hozier released the EP Unheard, which features 4 songs, one being "Too Sweet" WHICH was the most successful. It went to number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first song to debut within the top five of the chart and his second top five entré since "Take Me To Church". "Too Sweet" rose to number one three weeks later, making Hozier the fourth Irish artist to top the chart.
Hope you enjoy the song and like your whisky neat.
CHARLOTTE CARDIN
Charlotte Cardin is a Canadian Singer-songwriter. She has been nominated for 14 Juno Awards. In 2022, she received four awards for Artist of the Year for her song "Meaningless", Pop Album of the Year and Album of the Year for her 2021 debut album "Phoenix". Her second album 99 Nights was released in 2023.
Cardin was born in Montreal and also won the awards for Anglophone Concert of the Year and Most Successful Artist Outside Quebec. Cardin was the most nominated artist at the Juno Awards of 2022. In April 2023 she released "Confetti", the first single from her second album 99 Nights. After the release of the album, she created an EP, Une semaine a Paris, containing 4 songs: "Real Love", made with artist Laylow, the French version of "Confetti" which had already been released with Confetti and the piano version of the song, "Feel Good", and "Un peu trop".
Hope you enjoy "Confetti"
"My collection of K-TELS playing on my portable candle record player is where my relationship with and love for music of all genres began. It continued throughout my life, from going to concerts through to my more recent luck in being involved in an album production, from studio recording to mastering. WOW! What an experience, and from it I've gained an even greater respect and appreciation for what it takes to make great music!
Couple that with my air guitar acumen, and that of course makes me a consummate professional in bringing 'Jo's Picks Of The Month' to you.
All kidding aside my repertoire of songs is vast and what an honour it is to share my picks with the readers of The Sound Cafe Magazine!" - Jo.
Read more From Jo ...