Album reviews: For Those I Love exorcises grief and trauma; Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett make ambience for dystopia

"In the shed at the back of his parents' house in Coolock, Balfe threw himself into a ferocious act of remembering, in which spoken word reminiscences about his friend were blended with old rave and soul samples"

For Those I Love, aka Dave Balfe, at Other Voices in Dingle. Picture: Rich Gilligan

For Those I Love  - For Those I Love (*****)

The sting of loss and the open-ended ache of grief hang heavy in the air, as the world reckons with the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.