Forest Swords announces new record Compassion, airs "Arms Out"

Forset Swords, aka Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes, is following up 2013's Engravings. Sam Wiehl and Barnes direct the video for "Arms Out", which arrives in the wake of lead cut "The Highest Flood" and various album track which have been sent to fans this week via Whatsapp.

"Like many, with all that's been going on since I started making the record, I've struggled to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel," says Barnes. "I realised there's some sort of power in trying to create our own instead. I'm inspired by the ways we're communicating now, for better or worse, and thinking about new channels we can distribute ideas. The idea of looking for flexible future ways of expression and language, that bends to our needs quicker, really excites me."

As well as all this, Barnes has promised a "set of projects across multiple mediums by Forest Swords’ own Dense Truth, a new experimental studio and record label, including a series of music videos... there will also be a variety of multidisciplinary projects set to run through his Dense Truth umbrella over the coming year: collaborations across dance, performance, film, and music."

Barnes has a long list of live dates planned, including a UK run this October - find out the full details and ticket info.

Tracklist:

1. War It
2. The Highest Flood
3. Panic
4. Exalter
5. Border Margin Barrier
6. Arms Out
7. Vandalism
8. Sjurvival
9. Raw Language
10. Knife Edge