David Balfe makes tense music for an intense world. Under the name For Those I Love, the Dublin producer, visual artist and songwriter uses suspenseful, sprawling electronic compositions as the backdrop for his unyielding spoken word. He's coming out with his sophomore album Carving The Stone on 8/8 via September Recordings, and today, he's released a new single called "Mirror" to go along with "Of The Sorrows" and "No Scheme."
Over four minutes, Balfe's vocal transform from a tired growl to an impassioned declaration. "Mirror" begins with shuffling percussion and an anxiously itching bass. The lyrics seem to hint at generational suffering that finds new ways to mask itself as time moves forward: "This place is alive with all the lives before the tragedy," he repeats at on point, or "Some pain never fades it just appears in new ways."
His message is forthright and unintimidated. He doesn't hold back when speaking truth to power, especially at a time when current power structures feel dominated by narcissistic psychos:"Reprobate, ethnostate, modern nationalist cunts/ They manipulate young workers and then neglect them when done/ The modern state will strip a man down until he’s naked and scared."
It's a chilling performance that comes with a video directed by Niall Trask. Check it out below.
Carving The Stone is out 8/8 via September Recordings.
