ubikdedalus
A stunning knack for forlorn melodies and beautifully sparse arrangements. Forest Swords's new LP deserves a spot among the best records of the year.
Favorite track: Night Sculpture.
Light indigo 140g vinyl in a gatefold matte varnish outer sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Also includes a 12 page artwork booklet, double-sided 12” art print and download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$33USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Translucent algae green 140g vinyl in a matte varnish sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Also includes 12” double-sided art print and download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$28USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*Strictly One Per Customer* - Limited ‘Slimline’ Edition. 140g black vinyl in spineless sleeve with alternative artwork. Includes download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$25USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
CD housed in gatefold matte varnish sleeve with CD pocket. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$13USDor more
Cassette + Digital Album
Jelly green tape cassette with printed detail in O-card slipcase jacket. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$13USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
1 x - ZEN297X, Light indigo 140g vinyl in a gatefold matte varnish outer sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Also includes a 12 page artwork booklet, double-sided 12” art print and download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
1 x - 2021 vinyl repress on transparent orange 12" vinyl. Includes black and white printed inner sleeve and 12"x12" insert, both with new artwork created especially for this edition.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
1 x - ZEN297S, *Strictly One Per Customer* - Limited ‘Slimline’ Edition. 140g black label vinyl in spineless sleeve with alternative artwork. Includes download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.
1 x - ZEN243S, 2021 vinyl repress on transparent orange 12" vinyl. Includes black and white printed inner sleeve and 12"x12" insert, both with new artwork created especially for this edition.
Includes unlimited streaming of Bolted
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Forest Swords (aka electronic producer/composer Matthew Barnes) returns with a new album ‘Bolted’. 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 past year in a warehouse factory space in Barnes’ home city of Liverpool. Across its 11 tracks he dives deeper into his unique sonic vocabulary to weave together a set of tracks that sounds equally muscular and bleak, haunting and euphoric.
As ever in his music, melancholy and euphoria, monochrome and colour, past and future all feel ambiguous. Emotions shift from moment to moment, differences between digital and acoustic instruments more smeared than ever: a queering of time, space and sonics that feels equally playful and totally vital.
Alongside the announcement comes “The Low”, a moody, metallic trip hop single lifted from the album. Speaking on the track Barnes comments, "’The Low’ was based on a beat I’d originally intended for Yoko Ono, and features elements I made both at the start and end of the album, so ties together a lot of the sounds and emotions I was exploring during the writing process. The accompanying video directed with Sam Wiehl expands on some of my artwork and visual world that accompanies the record”.
“The Low” arrives shortly after the release of the “Butterfly Effect” single - part industrial electronica, part greyscale pop, shifting Forest Swords' world deeper into murkier, more paranoid territory, with a previously-unheard vocal sample by the legendary singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry. Upon its release the single received support from the likes of Pitchfork, FADER, DJ Mag, Stereogum, Clash, Line of Best Fit, Dork and more.
While his previous album – the acclaimed 'Compassion' released in 2017 – saw Barnes toy with widescreen technicolour, the world of ‘Bolted’ is tightly wound, taught, with a sense of aching urgency like never before. Fizzing deconstructed synths, heavily distorted mallets and marimbas bounce off clattering beats and foggy vocals, all balanced out with lightly dancing woodwind instruments; a layer of dust covering the surface of every track.
Elsewhere on ‘Bolted’ we hear 'Munitions' chugging industrial throb kick off the record, through to 'End's melancholy nostalgia, before plunging back into the psychedelic pounding of urgent closer 'Line Gone Cold', a rumination on grief with a signoff from the late Lee Scratch Perry.
Defiant, desolate, and darkly beautiful: 'Bolted' cements Forest Swords as one of the most remarkable and singular voices working in electronic music. The album will be released on the 20th October on Ninja Tune.
Burial fully realises the ambient aspects of his work that he has been leaning towards over the past few years. Whether you like it or not, you can't deny that this is undeniably Burial. Kutkh_Jackdaw
Tim Hecker again beautifully building and deconstructing sounds. This is anticlimax music that makes you work for that ease and comfort. Great representation of life in so many aspects cosmicsou
