by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Six years on from Compassion, his debut release for Ninja Tune, Matthew Barnes returns under his Forest Swords moniker for a powerful follow-up. The intervening period has seen him working on commissions writing music for film, ballet and video games – but as listeners will discover from his second album, Barnes continues to take a bold approach to his work.

Bolted was recorded in Barnes’ home city of Liverpool, in a warehouse space – and it includes singles The Low and Butterfly Effect.

What’s the music like?

Expansive. The Forest Swords sound world is one with wide, panoramic views that are especially effective on headphones. Big, reverberant beats and synths are complemented by vocals that are deliberately treated, sometimes warped to blend in with their surroundings as they are on End or brought to the front for maximum effect, as they are on the powerful Line Gone Cold, an epic and emotive piece of work that closes the album.

Often it feels like Barnes’s music is telling the story of an industrial process, with the clanging of percussion in Rubble a working example. Butterfly Effect has rolling beats like a pinball machine but with widescreen synths out front, while Tar sounds like an old, distorted squeezebox pressed into action at short notice. Night Sculpture, an impressive construction, is dominated by a bold melodic chime and is typical of an ability to paint vivid and meaningful pictures in sound.

Does it all work?

It does. Forest Swords stands for distinctive, evocative music that draws from the past – 1980s acts such as Cabaret Voltaire could be mentioned – but also feels part of the future.

Is it recommended?

Yes. This is a bold, striking album that repays repeated exploration.

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Published post no.2,004 – Thursday 9 November 2023