 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.(September 2023) |
Forest Swords | |
|---|---|
 Matthew Barnes (Forest Swords) in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew Edward Barnes [1] |
| Origin | The Wirral, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Labels |
|
| Website | forestswords |
Matthew Edward Barnes, known by his stage name Forest Swords, is an English record producer, composer, DJ, and artist. As of 2024, he has released three studio albums, two original scores, and two EPs.
Forest Swords's debut six-track EP, Dagger Paths , was originally released in March 2010, before being reissued later that year with additional tracks. FACT Magazine named it their album of the year. [2] It received an 8.4 rating on music website Pitchfork [3] and was No. 48 on their Albums of the Year list. [4] It was rated 9/10 on music website Drowned in Sound , [5] called "one of 2010's finest underground records" by NME , [6] and chosen as a 'Hidden Gem of 2010' in The Guardian . [7]
Forest Swords' debut studio album, Engravings , was released through Tri Angle Records on 26 August 2013. Critical response was unanimously positive, with Pitchfork giving it an 8.5 Best New Music review and Resident Advisor a 4.5/5 review. [8] Stereogum rated it at number 37 in their best albums of 2013 list, [9] Wire Magazine ranked it at number 35, Pitchfork at number 34, [10] Clash Magazine rated it at number 21, [11] Dummy Magazine at number 16, [12] and Tiny Mix Tapes at number 10. [13]
The video for "Thor's Stone" was directed by Dave Ma and made available online in September 2013. It featured Spanish dancer Guzman Rosado. [14] A remix by dub artist Lee Scratch Perry was posted online in November. [15]
A video for "The Weight of Gold", directed by French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, was posted online in February 2014 and featured dancer Billy Barry. [16]
The second Forest Swords album, Compassion , was released through Ninja Tune on 5 May 2017, with a video and streaming single release of lead track "Arms Out" and a set of worldwide festival and headline tour dates. [17] The track "The Highest Flood" had previously been released as a standalone digital single. [18]
Resident Advisor gave the album a 4.5/5 review, calling it "both sincere and sublime". [19] Fake DIY called it "heart-stopping and thoroughly arresting" in a 4/5 review. [20] DJ Mag gave it 4/5 and called it "a stunning vision, hypnotic". In an 8.5/10 review, The 405 called it "a brilliant album — well worth the four year wait". [21] Q Magazine gave it a strong 4/5 review and said it "unfolds like a journey through a bustling soundscape of found sounds, instrumental loops and post-dubstep production". The Loud & Quiet review stated the album is "arresting in its austerity" in an 8/10 review. [22] Pitchfork rated the album at 7.8; "more ambitious and varied while retaining the uncanniness he's known for". [23] PopMatters gave it a score of 8, saying, "A dazzling, evocative album that acts as the perfect soundtrack to the precarious times we live in". [24] AV Club called it "passionately realized" in an A− review. [25] Clash gave it an 8 out of 10 review, describing it as "wordless protest music that impresses with its sheer thematic ambition". [26] Exclaim! awarded it 8/10, saying, "the goosebumps will cover most of your body". [27] Sputnikmusic gave the album a 4.5 out of 5 'superb' rating, describing it as "nothing short of breathtaking". [28] Gigsoup praised Compassion's "beautiful strings and rolling percussion" in an 86% review. [29] In an 8 out of 10 review, Soundblab claimed Barnes has "developed a whole new language/style that other electronic musicians should be eager to take note of". [30] The Age rated Compassion 4.5 out of 5, calling it "triumphant". [31] It was Album of the Week on BBC 6Music and Bleep. [32]
A single, featuring two tracks from the Compassion recording sessions—"Congregate" and "Free"—was released later that year, with all proceeds going to relief work in Mexico and Puerto Rico. [33]
On 11 July 2023, Barnes released a new single, "Butterfly Effect", through the Ninja Tune label. It was his first new material in five years and featured a previously unheard vocal sample from musician Neneh Cherry. [34] His third album, Bolted , was announced in September 2023 and released on 20 October. The announcement was accompanied by two new tracks, "The Low" and "Caged". [35]
The album has received positive reviews, including a 9/10 rating from The Line of Best Fit , [36] 82% from Beats Per Minute, [37] a review calling it "absolutely phenomenal" by The Quietus , [38] 4/5 from AllMusic, [39] and 8/10 from Clash magazine. [40]
Barnes has created mixes for Fact , Unsound Festival, and Dazed , the last of which featured exclusive remixes of tracks by Björk and Anohni. [41]
In 2018, Forest Swords curated and released a 27-track DJ-Kicks compilation through !K7 Records. The collection "draws a line between past inspirations and his current peers" and features one exclusive Forest Swords track called "Crow", as well as songs from artists like Dead Can Dance, Orbital, Laurel Halo, and Mira Calix. The album artwork was also designed by Forest Swords. [42]
Forest Swords has created remixes for Björk, Anohni, These New Puritans, Wild Beasts, and Gold Panda, amongst others. In 2012, he co-produced and co-wrote the single "Cold Nites" for How to Dress Well, from the album Total Loss , [43] and went on to produce Barbadian rapper Haleek Maul's track "Lobo". [44] Dyymond of Durham, a one-off collaborative project with Bavarian fine artist Otto Baerst, released a track on No Pain in Pop's vinyl compilation The Bedroom Club II. [45]
In April 2014, Forest Swords recorded a BBC Radio 1 live session at Maida Vale Studios for Benji B. [46]
Forest Swords co-produced the opening track on Ellie Goulding's 2020 album, Brightest Blue , featuring vocalist Serpentwithfeet.
In 2014, Barnes was commissioned to produce the trailer music for Ubisoft's video game title Assassin's Creed Rogue . [47]
In 2015, the artist collaborated with Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack and Young Fathers on the score for La Fête (est Finie), a short film about climate change. [48]
In 2016, Forest Swords released Shrine, the soundtrack for an original contemporary dance piece. The dance performance was streamed via Boiler Room and has toured European festivals, such as ReWire in The Hague. [49]
In 2019, it was announced that Barnes had completed the soundtrack for the documentary film Ghosts of Sugar Land, directed by Bassam Tariq. The film won the Best Documentary Short award at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for the 2020 Academy Awards shortlist in the Documentary Short category, and was subsequently bought by Netflix. [50] [51]
Forest Swords composed the original soundtrack for The Machine Air, a film by director Liam Young, which was released in December 2019 through the Dense Truth label. The press release called the project "part art film, part performance piece" and "the first film to be both about and recorded by flying drones". [52] The film originally premiered at the BFI Imax in Waterloo, London for the BFI London Film Festival. [53]
In 2020, Barnes composed music for islands, a dance piece choreographed by Emma Portner and performed by members of the Norwegian National Ballet. It premiered at the Oslo Opera House as part of the Norwegian National Ballet Festival. [54]
Barnes composed music for the Ghost Light exhibition at NAK in Aachen, Germany in 2021 by artist Thomas Dosal, a 28-audio channel and light installation using manipulated audio ripped from the artist's smartphone. [55]
Barnes collaborated with Liam Young again on a quadraphonic original score for the documentary film installation Planet City for the NGV arts institution in Melbourne, Australia. [56]
Barnes composed and performed the original soundtrack for the 2022 narrative adventure video game As Dusk Falls , developed by Interior Night and published by Xbox Game Studios. Rolling Stone wrote that the game "features one of the best musical scores we've ever heard". [57]
Matthew Barnes is also a graphic designer, with work featured in Creative Review, Grafik, and Dazed & Confused . [58] [59] He has mentioned in interviews that design and visual art are key influencers to his music. [60] A special edition of the Engravings album is available with an additional twenty-page booklet of Barnes' original photography. [59] The cover artwork, designed by the artist himself, was selected for Art Vinyl's 2013 Best Art Award, [61] and Pitchfork included it in their top 25 album covers of 2013. [62]
In 2011, at the Abandon Normal Devices festival, three new pieces, as part of a site-specific sound installation called Ground Rhythms, [63] were cut to 12" X-ray film and performed on turntables at an event in Liverpool. [64] The pieces were inspired by three architectural sites from Merseyside history that no longer exist, and the tracks on the brittle X-ray pressings were designed to be "played once only before degrading, never to be played again". [65] The final copy of the X-ray vinyl was sold in December 2013 on eBay, with all proceeds going to the Philippines Typhoon Appeal. [66] A second performance in the series took place at the AV Festival in Newcastle in 2012, inspired by demolished buildings in the northeast. [67]
In 2010, Pitchfork Media posted an article suggesting Barnes was part of a new generation of producer/composers, alongside James Blake, Mount Kimbie, Bon Iver, Burial, and Four Tet. [68] A 2013 feature on The FADER website placed the Forest Swords project as a unique and contemporary strain of dub music, "worth endless listens, endless re-examinations, endless re-contextualizing", and stated that it "exists in that sweet spot of musical influence between everything and nothing". [69]
Studio albums
Original scoring
EPs
Singles
Curated compilations
Steven D. Bingley-Ellison, known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder.
Björk Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and sometimes eccentric public persona, she has developed an eclectic musical style over a career spanning four decades, drawing on electronic, pop, experimental, trip hop, classical, and avant-garde music.
Richard David James, known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publications including Mixmag, The New York Times, NME, Fact,Clash and The Guardian have called James one of the most influential and important artists in contemporary electronic music.
Kwes is a British music producer, composer and artist from London, England. Kwes is also currently signed to Warp as a solo artist and released his debut album, ilp in October 2013. He has since gone on to produce music for the likes of Damon Albarn, Bobby Womack, Solange Knowles, Sampha, Loyle Carner, Black Coffee, Nubya Garcia, Tirzah, Lucy Rose and numerous others. He also composed his debut feature length score for 2023 British rom-com film Rye Lane, directed by Raine Allen-Miller. It won a BIFA award in 2023 for Best Original Music.
Mount Kimbie is an English electronic music group. Originally consisting of the duo of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos, Mount Kimbie was formed in 2008. The duo expanded on the musical template of the UK dubstep scene, releasing early EPs Maybes and Sketch on Glass to critical praise the following year. Their debut album Crooks & Lovers in 2010 received further acclaim and was listed as one of the defining albums of the decade by DJ Mag.
Jai Paul is a British songwriter, record producer and recording artist. His early demo "BTSTU" led to his online discovery and a subsequent recording contract with XL Recordings. Together with its follow-up "Jasmine", these songs have been regarded as influential on underground as well as mainstream pop music in the 2010s.
Death Grips is an American experimental hip hop group formed in 2010 in Sacramento, California. The group consists of producers Zach Hill (drums) and Andy Morin (keyboards), and vocalist Stefan Burnett, also known as MC Ride. Though he is not the group's frontman, Hill has been credited with being the driving creative force behind the project. Drawing from punk rock, electronic, noise, and industrial styles, the band's innovative and often difficult-to-categorize sound has earned critical acclaim and a cult following, while their aggressive performance style and cryptic interactions with their fans and the media have gained widespread notoriety.
Rustie is a Scottish musician from Glasgow. He is associated with the Numbers label collective and first received attention for his 2007 EP Jagz the Smack. He signed to Warp Records in 2009. His 2011 debut album Glass Swords won him widespread acclaim. His music blends disparate genres, including hip hop, rave, and video game music.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra are a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland, primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jacob Portrait. The band is based in Portland, Oregon. Nielson started the band in 2009, initially as a solo project. The band's first album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records; four subsequent studio albums have been released on Jagjaguwar, the most recent being V (2023).
Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez, known professionally as Arca, is a Venezuelan musician and record producer based in Barcelona, Spain. She initially began releasing music under the name of Nuuro. After attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Ghersi first released the EP Baron Libre (2012) under the name Arca and subsequently released the EPs Stretch 1 and Stretch 2; the latter experimented with hip hop and brought her attention from prominent music publications.
Engravings is the debut album by English music producer Matthew Barnes under the stage name Forest Swords. It was released on 26 August 2013 by Tri Angle.
Caroline Elizabeth Polachek is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek cofounded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late-2000s Brooklyn music scene with the sleeper hit "Bruises". In 2014, she released her first solo project, Arcadia, as Ramona Lisa. Under CEP, she released Drawing the Target Around the Arrow in 2017.
Holly Herndon is an American artist and composer based in Berlin, Germany. After studying composition at Stanford University and completing her Ph.D. at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, she pursued a music career internationally. Herndon's music often includes human singing voices, is primarily computer-based, and regularly uses the visual programming language Max/MSP to create custom instruments and vocal processes. She has released music on the labels RVNG Intl. and 4AD. Her third full-length album, Proto, was released on May 10, 2019.
Kelela Mizanekristos is an American singer. She made her debut in the music industry with the release of her 2013 mixtape Cut 4 Me. In 2015, she released Hallucinogen, an EP which deals with the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship in reverse chronological order. Her debut studio album, Take Me Apart, was released in 2017 to critical acclaim. After a nearly 5-year hiatus, Kelela released her second album, Raven, in February of 2023.
Sylvan Esso is an American electronic pop duo from Durham, North Carolina which was formed in 2013. The band consists of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn. They made their debut with the single "Hey Mami" and released their eponymous debut album on Partisan Records on May 12, 2014. It reached No. 39 on the Billboard 200. They released their second album, What Now, with Loma Vista Recordings on April 28, 2017, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Alexander Guy Cook is an English music producer and the head of the UK record label PC Music. Cook released his first solo singles in 2014. He has also collaborated with PC Music artists such as Hannah Diamond, GFOTY, EASYFUN, Danny L Harle and felicita. He formed the one-off project QT with musician Sophie and performance artist Hayden Dunham, producing the 2014 single "Hey QT".
Joshua Leary, better known by the stage name Evian Christ, is an English electronic music producer, DJ, songwriter and performance artist from Ellesmere Port, UK. He is signed to Tri Angle Records, Warp and Kanye West’s publishing house Donda and record label Very Good Beats. He released his debut mixtape Kings and Them in 2012 and gained prominence as a collaborator on West's 2013 album Yeezus. He released a further EP on Tri Angle, Waterfall, in 2014, and released his debut album on Warp Records, Revanchist, in 2023.
Compassion is the second studio album by British electronic music artist Forest Swords, released on 5 May 2017. The album is Forest Swords' second, following 2013's Engravings.
Dominik Dvorak, known by their stage name felicita, is an English record producer and DJ based in London. They came to prominence through early collaborations with Nabihah Iqbal, Palmistry and Sophie. In 2014, they released the Frenemies EP with Gum Artefacts on digital platforms and vinyl.
Bolted is the third studio album by British electronic music artist Forest Swords. It was released on 20 October 2023 through Ninja Tune. The album is his first studio release in over six years, following Compassion (2017).
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
