For Those I Love

‘For Those I Love’ is not only an immaculate debut, but a beautiful record that speaks to anyone who’s ever loved and lost, anyone who might be mourning or just processing the days of youthful abandon, or perhaps those who need reminding that you can’t have shadows without the light.

‘For Those I Love’ is a truly exquisite achievement in which the redemptive hope that love and friendship provide is never allowed to sink beneath the waters.

This record is full of deft brass lines, clever little melodies and memorable refrains. Because at the root of everything For Those I Love writes great pop songs.

For Those I Love is a wonderfully open-hearted portrayal of young Ireland akin to contemporaries Fontaines D.C. or the Murder Capital.

Anchoring the album with his own painful history and never admitting defeat, Balfe has scripted a exhilarating album that contends with unimaginable loss whilst warmly celebrating persistence.

For all the Dublin references, there’s a universality to the emotion; the music is finely-crafted enough to keep you returning, not matter how distressing the subject matter of the songs. There’s something here that that suggests Balfe could easily outrun the well-meaning, but limiting labels currently being attached to him – “Ireland’s potent poet of grief” – if that’s what he wants.

Haunted and intimate, Balfe's deep brogue ultimately salvages hope from the wreckage. [May 2021, p.83]

Grief, memory and friendship billow up throughout the nine tracks. [Mar 2021, p.31]