Hozier‘s new album Unreal Unearth is his most sonically expansive and diverse effort, which now presents the challenge of bringing all those different sounds to the live stage.

As the “Take Me to Church” artist tells ABC Audio, he’ll have a nine-piece band to help him do just that.

“Everybody onstage is a multi-instrumentalist, and everybody onstage is a very good singer,” Hozier shares. “So I have every confidence that we can do very good justice to it. There’s a huge sound that comes off that stage.”

Additionally, Hozier hopes his live shows will visually reflect the themes of the album, which are loosely based on Dante‘s Inferno, the 14th century epic poem depicting the nine circles of Hell.

“I think this is something that’s interesting and compelling about Dante’s depiction of Hell,” Hozier muses. “Yes, there’s fire, but to him, the deepest trench of Hell is the coldest place in existence. So it’s nice to subvert that, also, and play with our collective ideas of what Hell might look like.” 

Hozier will launch a U.S. headlining tour Saturday, September 9, in St. Louis.

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