Sophomore album from David Andrew Balfe whose debut album attracted a huge amount of critical acclaim. Out on the 8th of August.

Consider if you will your feelings about this line from the track ‘Mirror’:

“C***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s, c***s.”

This is intense stuff, it isn’t going to be for everyone. Not everyone needs to spend their time sitting and listening to a really angry Dubliner. If, however, the general state of the world appalls you and the idea of spoken word poetic assaults on every kind of Irish establishment and the state of Ireland laid over some quality dance beats and hip hop style samples sounds like fun then there is some truly incredible work here. Musically the intricate and dense layering recalls sampling heroes such as DJ Shadow.

There are so many unexpected moments that pop up, hefty dance beats undercut by a sudden flash of an old fragile tune that drifts in. What is laid down vocally on top of it will infuriate some but be loved by others. Whilst the style and delivery is very similar track to track the content is absolute dynamite. There is incredible poetry, stunning observations, beautfiful character studies (most noticeably on ‘The Ox’), and, above all else, a huge amount of anger. Balfe tried going to the countryside to break a long stretch of writer’s block, yet he got nothing done. What it did for him was made him understand how important the city was to him, how he was a part of it, and how it inspired his work. From there, when he got back home, the work began to flow again. His rage is cast far and wide.

“This place is alive with all the lives before the tragedy
They still speak to me casually, but I’ll never share it
I’m cold but I care, it’s old but I’ll bear it
Some pain never fades it just appears is new ways.”

“How many of us are miseducated?
Inflated by a hate filled rhetoric
With ideologues influencing the city’s sprogs like gods
Automating ourselves out of jobs and I’m guilty, born filthy
Seems like no love can fill me, no other place can thrill me
Still I choose to plant roots in this lose/lose
Repeat the picture, an ounce for mixture, denounce the crowd and bleed for scripture.
See I’ve been knifed alive by mine, but wined and dined by those on high became the bigger crime to me, if I’m going to bleed then make me bleed with a blade I can see.”

There are moments where this feels like a glorious Irish companian piece to the brilliant Constant Noise by Benefits. This is vocally more direct, far wordier, scattershot delivery constantly firing rapidly.

Of all these tracks ‘Of The Sorrows’ is like a bolt of electricity. Balfe picks apart the desire to stay in Ireland versus the difficulties in doing that. The difficulty in finding the right kind of work, rising prices, squalor, the cost of living crisis made manifest. When the fiddle kicks in towards the end it uplifts the whole track.

The more I listen, the more little features reveal themselves, the more different lines swim into view and leave you mulling them over. There are a number of references to the idea of carving the stone. The stone is like a millstone, a heavy burden to be carried. Different hurts and pains have people carving their own stones throughout this album.

‘I Came Back To See The Stone Had Moved’ mingles hope with despair. Rolfe finds things to hang onto like a life raft, “But I will tolerate whatever this life is going to bring.”  Later, “So I’ll carve this stone until darkness comes because I am choosing to live.” It all ends on a sudden burst of bagpipes, or something very similar, playing what sounds like Amazing Grace, it is a remarkably uplifting and almost spiritual moment to end on.

This is a powerful album, a battle cry for a better world wallowing and revelling in the minutiae of lives lived in hard circumstances. It points out where hope slips away, but never completely abandons the possibility of hope. It is remarkable poetry, yet the tunes underneath are equally well put together. It is another strong entry for Irish music in a couple of years that has seen Ireland musically triumphant on the international stage. Highly recommended.

For Those I Love tours in September.