Forest Swords

On Ninja Tune

BIOGRAPHY

Forest Swords, aka acclaimed Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, returns with his eagerly anticipated new single 'The Highest Flood', out via Ninja Tune. One of Barnes' most urgent tracks to date, layering a thumping, staggered, skeletal beat with deconstructed piano fragments and a hook that sculpts choral samples into a rapturous battle cry. Veering between claustrophobia and euphoria, Barnes continues his bleeding of the line between sorrow and ecsta...

Forest Swords, aka acclaimed Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, returns with his eagerly anticipated new single 'The Highest Flood', out via Ninja Tune. 

One of Barnes' most urgent tracks to date, layering a thumping, staggered, skeletal beat with deconstructed piano fragments and a hook that sculpts choral samples into a rapturous battle cry. Veering between claustrophobia and euphoria, Barnes continues his bleeding of the line between sorrow and ecstasy, and with 'The Highest Flood', the first taster of his new material, there's a new-found, raw sense of immediacy.

"It's a challenge to navigate the world we're living in now and I've been thinking a lot about the ways we need to forge new paths in language, communication and our connection with the natural world – it's becoming more and more important to try and steer these in a positive direction" says Barnes of the track. "'The Highest Flood' distills some of the frustration and hope that I've been working through over the past 18 months whilst making new material.”

The single is the long awaited first studio material since 2013's critically lauded debut album “Engravings”. Over this period Barnes has devised, scored and art directed last year's contemporary dance piece ‘Shrine’, composed for the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ video game, collaborated with Massive Attack on their new music and soundtracked the first movie made entirely with drones - 'In The Robot Skies’ - which debuted at the 2016 BFI London Film Festival.

Forest Swords

On Ninja Tune

Popular Tracks

  1.
    Arms Out
    MP3 — 70p
    16-Bit WAV — £1.10
  2.
    Panic
    MP3 — 70p
    16-Bit WAV — £1.10
  3.
    The Highest Flood
    MP3 — 70p
    16-Bit WAV — £1.10
  4.
    Exalter
    MP3 — 70p
    16-Bit WAV — £1.10
  5.
    Raw Language (Edit) (Edit)
    MP3 — 70p
    16-Bit WAV — £1.10
  6.
    Play All (5)

Albums

Compassion -
Compassion

Singles

Congregate -
Congregate
Knife Edge (Dusk Version) -
Knife Edge (Dusk Version)
Raw Language -
Raw Language

Latest News

BIOGRAPHY

Forest Swords, aka acclaimed Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, returns with his eagerly anticipated new single 'The Highest Flood', out via Ninja Tune. One of Barnes' most urgent tracks to date, layering a thumping, staggered, skeletal beat with deconstructed piano fragments and a hook that sculpts choral samples into a rapturous battle cry. Veering between claustrophobia and euphoria, Barnes continues his bleeding of the line between sorrow and ecstasy, and with 'The Hi...

Forest Swords, aka acclaimed Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, returns with his eagerly anticipated new single 'The Highest Flood', out via Ninja Tune. 

One of Barnes' most urgent tracks to date, layering a thumping, staggered, skeletal beat with deconstructed piano fragments and a hook that sculpts choral samples into a rapturous battle cry. Veering between claustrophobia and euphoria, Barnes continues his bleeding of the line between sorrow and ecstasy, and with 'The Highest Flood', the first taster of his new material, there's a new-found, raw sense of immediacy.

"It's a challenge to navigate the world we're living in now and I've been thinking a lot about the ways we need to forge new paths in language, communication and our connection with the natural world – it's becoming more and more important to try and steer these in a positive direction" says Barnes of the track. "'The Highest Flood' distills some of the frustration and hope that I've been working through over the past 18 months whilst making new material.”

The single is the long awaited first studio material since 2013's critically lauded debut album “Engravings”. Over this period Barnes has devised, scored and art directed last year's contemporary dance piece ‘Shrine’, composed for the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ video game, collaborated with Massive Attack on their new music and soundtracked the first movie made entirely with drones - 'In The Robot Skies’ - which debuted at the 2016 BFI London Film Festival.

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