Everybody stay calm - Hozier has returned to the studio.

The ‘Take Me to Church’ hitmaker was recently spotted enjoying a session at Rock Me Amadeus Studio in Rome, Italy with his long-time engineer, Stephen ‘Pato’ Pattison.

Now, it's worth flagging immediately that this doesn't necessarily mean Hozier was working on music with Pattison, although the fact that he brought his engineer with him definitely feels like an indication that the two were hopefully cooking up new material.

It's possible, though, that the duo were simply experiencing a legendary studio while in Italy, and wanted to play a few songs together. Either way, with Hozier's last full-length studio album, Unreal Unearth, in August 2023, fans are clamouring for new music.

Fans often joke about how long the Irish singer-songwriter in-between albums, with Hozier tending to leave four or five-year gaps after each project. He did this after his self-titled debut in 2014, keeping us waiting until 2019 for Wasteland, Baby! Then, it was a four-year wait before Unreal Unearth landed in the summer of 2023.

Although it's painful having to forego new music for so long, every project from Hozier is undoubtedly worth the wait. Given how intricately he weaves different narratives and themes throughout his projects, with Unreal Unearth exploring Dante's Inferno, for instance, you can understand why he takes years to craft each body of work.

While these new photos are by no means a sign that we'll be getting new music from Hozier anytime soon, the fact that he isn't currently on tour hopefully suggests he's at least working on fresh songs. With it being three years since Unreal Unearth, perhaps we can look forward to hearing the fruits of his labour in Rome, Italy next year...