David Balfe's follow-up album, 'Carving the Stone,' reflects emotional grief through abstract themes connected to the brutal Irish economy and modern life's emptiness. Although the album includes a tribute to a hardman who died from alcoholism, much of its content moves beyond direct mourning. Instead, it captures the struggles and absurdities of contemporary life through a mix of music and lyrics. Tracks like 'No Scheme' address societal issues, while 'Mirror' offers a critique of nationalism. Despite its depressing themes, the album is rich in meaning and contains moments of musical joy.
On his 2021 debut as For Those I Love, David Balfe closed the gap between performance poetry, moody 1980s synthpop and sample-stuffed electronica to craft an evocative eulogy for his friend Paul Curran, who died by suicide in 2018.
Aside from The Ox/The Afters, a tribute to a former hardman who dies from drink, there's not much literal grief on Carving the Stone but Balfe is still in mourning.
His psychic wound is more abstract now, a slow-blooming bruise caused by the brutal Irish economy and the tech-addled meaninglessness of modernity.
Carving the Stone's portraits of new kinds of poverty are too depressing and depressingly accurate to be beautiful, although the music offers occasional bursts of strange joy.
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