Forest Swords, aka acclaimed Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, returns with his eagerly anticipated new full-length record. ‘Compassion’, the follow-up to 2013’s critically lauded debut Engravings, will be released on Friday May 5 on Ninja Tune via Inertia Music. The album will be followed by a set of multidisciplinary projects expanding the themes and concepts across wider disciplines, overseen by Forest Swords’ own Dense Truth, an experimental art studio and record label.
Compassion is a response to the uncertain, aggressive new world we’re experiencing and communicating within, distilling it into a unique sound territory: Barnes’ exploration of the mid-point between ecstasy and melancholy, artificial and human feels timely and affecting; a celebration of primal connections, life itself, and an anxious glance at the direction we’re heading. The result is an assured, compelling, vital body of work, tying together the ancient and future: weaving swathes of buzzing digital textures, field recordings, clattering beats and distorted jazz sax with fizzing orchestral arrangements.
You can watch the video for ‘Arms Out’ below;
