Indie30 THE ELEMENTAL WORLD OF FOREST SWORDS

THE ELEMENTAL WORLD OF FOREST SWORDS

Merseyside avant garde producer Matthew Barnes, aka Forest Swords, made quite a name for himself in independent music circles a few years back with the release of his debut EP, Dagger Paths. It received kudos from Pitchfork and FACT among others. Well, the last few years haven’t found Barnes as well and productive in a music sense as hearing difficulties forced him to relegate that area and focus on his art and design. That nothwithstanding, Barnes still worked on music commissions and collaborations, the most notable his work with Tom Krell’s How To Dress Well project and the track ‘Cold Nites’.

Upon returning to music full time, his attention turned back to Forest Swords and the result is a remarkable debut record, Engravings. A hauntingly elemental album, Barnes’s home patch of Wirral plays a central contemporary and historical role as modern electronics are interplayed with the rhythms and vocals of the ancient past. Two tracks have seen the light of day, the first ‘Thor’s Stone’ rests its title on a local slab of sandstone where Norseman were said to have used it for sacrifices. It almost sounds like the music the feast before or after would be set to. ‘The Weight Of Gold’ begins with a shipping sound before a dubstep beat is interwoven with celestial like synths and rumbling bass. You can stream both tracks below. Engravings is out now on Tri-Angle. It is a trip well worth taking and our album of the week.

Tracklist

1. Ljoss
2. Thor’s Stone
3. Irby Tremor
4. Onward
5. The Weight Of Gold
6. Anneka’s Battle
7. An Hour
8. Gathering
9. The Plumes
10. Friend, You Will Never Learn

The Weight Of Gold

Forest Swords (ENG)

From the album, ‘Engravings’, Tri-Angle

Forest Swords Facebook

Buy album here

Audio Stream

Official Video

Thor’s Stone

Forest Swords (ENG)

From the album, ‘Engravings’, Tri-Angle

Audio Stream

Official Video

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