“The car has always been my stage. I’d pile my friends into a 2001 Renault Clio, and then later a 2006 Kia Rio and we’d drive the length and breadth of Dublin to the soundtrack of demos and half songs.”

That’s what Dublin born artist and poet Dave Balfe said when writing about his latest project, ‘Into A World That Doesn’t Understand It, Unless You’re From It’. Dave is a member of the artistic crew Burnt Out that was also home to the late Paul Curran.

It’s a 47 minute mix of old works combined with new and resides on Youtube in a video that sees a car travel through the city as the music plays. It’s a tribute to the city and its idiosyncrasies that you can’t explain to someone who hasn’t lived them.

Continuing to talk about the piece Dave said, “Tragedy and celebration always had the same treatment.

“We’d drive our city at night and go on a mad one chatting about times gone by.”

“The glow of nostalgia only matched by the glow of Robbie’s smokes as he hung out the back window.”

“When the world was too cruel to even turn to others, I’d find peace spinning round the landscape alone. The songs sound different alone, but they held the ghosts of everyone and everything we’d lost, and I’d feel them as I’d race over the streets.”

“With this piece I wanted to offer a way into those moments. Into that mourning, that celebration, that peace.”

“Into a world that doesn’t understand it, unless you’re from it.”

“I wanted to show Dublin the way I see it. Endless, sprawling, and the backdrop for all I love.”