Forest Swords (aka electronic producer / composer Matthew Barnes) returns. Having spent the past few years working as an in-demand composer and sound designer – writing music for ballet, film and video games – ‘Bolted’ was recorded over the last twelve months in Barnes’ home city of Liverpool. His ad hoc studio in a former vehicle and munitions factory (with connections to shadowy guerilla artists The KLF) became a gateway for him to explore, using a combination of hardware, software and tape machines to mould and sculpt a sound world for the album. Across ‘Bolted’’s 11 tracks he dives deeper into his unique sonic vocabulary (including personal samples of Neneh Cherry and the late Lee Scratch Perry) to weave together a set of tracks that sounds equally muscular and bleak, haunting and euphoric. While his previous album – the acclaimed ‘Compassion’, released in 2017 – saw Barnes toy with widescreen technicolour, the world of ‘Bolted’ is tightly wound, taught, with a sense of aching urgency like never before.

Deluxe LP pressed on light indigo 140g vinyl in a gatefold matte varnish outer sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Also includes a 12-page artwork booklet, double-sided 12” art print and download code.

Standard LP pressed on translucent algae green 140g vinyl in a matte varnish sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Also includes 12” double-sided art print and download code. Art direction and design by Forest Swords. Mastered by Matt Colton.