Forest Swords issues exclusive vinyl in aid of hurricane

Forest Swords, aka Merseyside producer Matthew Barnes, returns with a two track single in aid of hurricane and earthquake relief work in Puerto Rico and Mexico.

‘Congregate‘ b/w ‘Free‘, comes four months after the release of his critically acclaimed album Compassion. The beatless tracks, recorded during the Compassion album sessions in early 2017, take the sonic palette of the full-length and strip it back to a more meditative, textural place.

Main track ‘Congregate‘ is based around brooding, mutated choral chants while ‘Free‘, originally a Compassion Japanese bonus track, takes distorted saxophone and weaving melodies into unsettling dreamlike territories. A self-directed visual for ‘Congregate’ featuring the work of origami artist Fynn Jackson is available to view on Youtube below –

The tracks are available to stream and download now, with proceeds going towards ongoing and future aid work following the devastating hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and this month’s earthquake in Mexico.

Forest Swords is currently on a headline tour across Europe, the UK and North America through September to December, including a date at London’s Village Underground on 18th Oct.

Stream or download ‘Congregate b/w Free‘ via Ninja Tune

Tour dates:

28/09/17: Meet Factory – Prague, Czech
29/09/17: Waves – Vienna, Austria
30/09/17: Dürer Kert – Budapest, Hungary
02/10/17: Drugstore – Belgrade, Serbia
03/10/17: Mocvara – Zagreb, Croatia
04/10/17: Kino Siska – Ljubljana, Slovenia
06/10/17: Locomotiv – Bologna, Italy
07/10/17: FAB – Prato, Italy
08/10/17: Lanificio 25 – Naples, Italy
10/10/17: Dachstock – Bern, Switzerland
11/10/17: Rote Fabrik – Zurich, Switzerland
12/10/17: Uebel & Gefährlich – Hamburg, Germany
13/10/17: Bitterzoet – Amsterdam, Netherlands
14/10/17: Badaboum – Paris, France
16/10/17: The Lantern – Bristol, UK
18/10/17: Village Underground – London, UK
19/10/17: The Haunt – Brighton, UK
20/10/17: Headrow House – Leeds, UK
21/10/17: Gorilla – Manchester, UK
25/10/17: Teatr Warsawy – Warsaw, Poland
27/10/17: Six Dogs – Athens, Greece
28/10/17: Salon ISKV – Istanbul, Turkey
29/11/17: GNRation – Braga, Portugal
30/11/17: ZDB – Lisbon, Portugal
01/12/17: Caracol – Madrid, Spain

For more information follow Forest Swords on Facebook

(Image credit: Dense Truth)