Forest Swords - Bolted (Deconstructed) (2025)

'Bolted (Deconstructed)' is a new collection of reworkings from Forest Swords' (aka producer and composer Matthew Barnes) most recent album, released as a fundraiser for winter food banks in his home city of Liverpool.

The ambient, improvised reinterpretations arrive during the first anniversary of the critically acclaimed album 'Bolted', an exploration of post-industrial electronica and foggy ambient recorded in a factory space in the city, with guests including Neneh Cherry.

"I'm always interested in ways I can dismantle my work once it's done – Bolted was a heavy record both creatively and sonically, so as I finished up the live shows I wanted to revisit it, cracking it open to let some light in" says Barnes of the release. "The whole idea was to be loose with the source material, and these tracks are pieced together using a couple of pieces of hardware with random stems from the sessions".

The hypnotic, beatless versions of the album pushes the sonic world from bleak, alien electronics to into fresh winter air: snippets of vocals and melodies placed into dubbed out organ and synths, musique concrète, brightly hissing tape loops and chamber reverb.