FOREST SWORDS – Bolted – CD [OCT 20]

CD – Standard Edition.Housed in gatefold matte varnish sleeve with CD pocket. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.

Forest Swords (aka electronic producer/composer Matthew Barnes) returns, having spent the past few years working as an in-demand composer and sound designer – writing music for ballet, film and video games – ‘Bolted‘ was recorded over the last twelve months in Barnes’ home city of Liverpool.

His ad hoc studio in a former vehicle and munitions factory (with connections to shadowy guerilla artists The KLF) became a gateway for him to explore, using a combination of hardware, software and tape machines to mould and sculpt a sound world for the album. Across it’s 11 tracks he dives deeper into his unique sonic vocabulary (including personal samples of Neneh Cherry and the late Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) to weave together a set of tracks that sounds equally muscular and bleak, haunting and euphoric. While his previous album – the acclaimed ‘Compassion‘ released in 2017 – saw Barnes toy with widescreen technicolour, the world of ‘Bolted‘ is lightly wound, taught with a sense of aching urgency like never before.

Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton. *Vinyl colour appearance may vary.

RIYL: Aphex Twin, Bjork, Oneohtrix Point Never, Andy Stott, Boards Of Canada, Burial, Massive Attack.

Tracklist:

1. Munitions
2. Butterfly Effect
3. Rubble
4. Night Sculpture
5. Caged
6. Tar
7. The Low
8. Chain Link
9. Hjope
10. End
11. Line Gone Cold