[10] Hozier began writing the album after ending his first relationship, saying it forced him to "reflect" upon what being in love meant, having reasons to "distract" himself and "cultivate his ideas" before "turn(ing) them into music".

[11] Hozier has stated that there are "a lot of recurring themes" in the album dealing with "personal liberations - finding yourself, accepting yourself, and making sense of yourself" in trying to be honest about "the more wonderful and awful things of your day-to-day".

[11] He wrote "Take Me to Church" in his parents' living room and recorded the song in a "makeshift attic studio" in Wicklow, collaborating with producer Rob Kirwan.

[11][13] At a live performance in Boston, Hozier explained that "Cherry Wine" was recorded at five in the morning in an old, abandoned hotel with a caved-in roof and walls covered in graffiti.

[24] Hozier opens with "Take Me to Church", a gospel-inflected mid-tempo blues song with "sweeping orchestral choruses" showcasing the artist's vocal range ascribing religious terminology to the nuances of a romantic relationship.

[25][26] "Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene" is a blues and indie-rock track, containing guitar riffs, clapping hands, and church organs with a half-time beat, describing a "temptress" in "stained-glass colors", lamenting the unavoidable "curse of being young in love".

"[27] "Someone New" is a pop-like whimsical spring-stepped indie-rock song with strong strings, a pizzicato bass and choral harmonies, discussing a wandering celebration of "renewed love" in the face of strangers.

[16] "To Be Alone" is melancholy blues song containing a simplistic drumbeat guitar licks and church organs, depicting the "euphoric" attraction of solitude with a partner.

[28] "From Eden" features a flamenco bridge, referencing the titular garden in its Biblical imagery and describing a journey to "find himself as much as the girl", with the narrator "slithering" to his lover's door.

[19] "In a Week" is a Celtic-inspired folk duet with breathy harmonies from Karen Cowley detailing pastoral fantasy about decomposing amongst the fauna of the Wicklow Mountains alongside his love.

[22] "Like Real People Do" is an acoustic song in a "warm"[21] higher key with keening vocals, its lyrics intertwining metaphors of insects and nature, while pleading for his sweetheart to kiss him in affection.

"It Will Come Back" is a twangy track with "devilish" strings slide guitar riffs and tambourines with deviant notations while "Foreigner's God" has a soulful edge with loaded lyrical and religious allegories.

[25][16] "Cherry Wine" ends the album on an apologetic note with an intimate acoustic live-recording that juxtaposes the samples of chirping birds and soft guitar with the description of a tempestuous, abusive relationship.

"Like fellow Irishman Van Morrison did decades before, Hozier draws on the soul and R&B of Jackie Wilson and runs it through the mystery white-boy filter of Jeff Buckley, adding a touch of Bon Iver's rural indie aesthetic to mix into his own dark cocktail", he wrote.

[51] Simon Harper of Clash magazine commented that "His voice, more poitín-sweetened than whiskey-soaked, caresses delicate melodies and rougher rhythms alike with confidence – it lingers compellingly in the creeping blues of 'To Be Alone', whispers prettily in the folky 'Like Real People Do', and preaches fervently in the ragged R&B of 'Jackie And Wilson'.

"[18] Rolling Stone magazine's Jon Dolan wrote, "Blessed with a sensual singing voice and a seemingly bottomless well of lapsed-Catholic-style conflict, Hozier channels Van Morrison's Celtic R&B, Southern soul and Black Keys-style garage blues into intimately roiling songs like 'Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene'.

They add mature, universal gravitas and often a holy ecstacy to an intense, youthful lyrical tangling of religion and romantic obsession that regularly finds him poised 'between love and abuse'," adding that "Hozier mixes his tormented blues with sunny R&B.