Dublin’s For Those I Love, the project of producer, visual artist, and songwriter David Balfe, returns today with a new single, “Of The Sorrows.” The track is accompanied by a self-directed video, and Balfe has shared insights into this much-anticipated new material.
Balfe’s self-titled 2021 debut earned widespread international critical praise, topping Album Of The Year’s 2021 releases and ranking third on Metacritic. It was a BBC 6 Music Album Of The Day and won Ireland’s prestigious Choice Music Prize in 2022. Its lead single, “I Have A Love,” was even immortalised in an Overmono remix, remaining a euphoric highlight in their live sets.
“Of The Sorrows” maintains the significant emotional weight and precise, direct lyricism that define Balfe’s work. The track features the voice of an elderly Irishman grappling with the profound sadness of leaving his homeland, poignantly stating, “I had to leave it, but I want to die in it.” Balfe himself shares similarly conflicted feelings about emigration, having experienced an accumulating dread in Dublin that compelled him to capture observations and ideas in his notes.
Committing to a follow-up, Balfe decided against revisiting past traumas. Instead, he patiently transformed these notes into verses, producing instrumentals in his home studio to express his current emotions. This new material is the first taste of what’s to come, with further releases from For Those I Love anticipated in 2025.
