After the year that was 2020 an album built almost entirely from the effects of the grief cycle seemed like one we didn’t collectively want. But for David Balfe the loss of his best friend Paul Curran to suicide made him face emotions that unprocessed would result either in catharsis or self destruction, the binary choice which is the reason For Those I Love Exists.
Even if the construct was authentic the other almost unclimable hill was surely the residual impact see-sawing mental health would have on the music; sympathy yes, but in this era of absolute turmoil what chance did another man’s wake have of leading us all towards closure?
For Those I Love brought answers, fear, self-loathing, desperation, depression, drug and alcoholic oblivion and a million other things. Heartbreakingly honest, it was the record we never knew we needed, but offered a sticking plaster for universal ills, if only momentarily.
Read the review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 