Apropos of that album cover sleeve pictured above, lemme just say: you’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard the crazy-insane news last month that music producer and proper Britisher Matthew “Forest Swords” Barnes has a new album Compassion coming out next just week (May 5!) on via Ninja Tune.
And come on, now — no human person with ears, a backbone, and money to burn on surrealistic new albums of itchy, jazzy, skeletal electronica lives under those in real life; that’d just be impractical.
But for all you slugs, grubs, roly poly bugs, and flatworms out there with YouTube accounts and discerning taste in audio/visual content: Barnes has just unveiled the music video for Compassion’s latest track “Panic” and announced a colossal run of European and US fall tour dates. The clip, which was directed by Barnes (along with “AV collaborator Sam Weihl”) and produced by Barnes’ new “experimental creative studio ‘Dense Truth,’” features some seriously motivational yoga poses as the track’s rumbling cello loop and clanging percussion throb along underneath.
In addition, Barnes has announced that he’ll also be “Skype screening, one-on-one, an extended edit of the song and video” to a selection of folks who add him (username: densetruth) over the next two days. “I’d been thinking about communication and connections while I was making the record,” he says of these experiments, “and ways we can perhaps use all these existing channels in different ways. Social media still feels impersonal and clunky to me, like you’re shouting over a wall at someone, so I wanted to try to connect a bit more directly and see what would happen.”
So, there you have it. Whether you’ve got a spinal column or not, you can check out the “Panic” clip and full list of fall dates down below, then hop onto the internet to hang out with Barnes while you wait for your copy of Compassion to arrive to your rock and/or rock-based condo.
Forest Swords fall tour:
09.21.17 - Aarhus, Denmark - Atlas
09.22.17 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Jazzhouse
09.23.17 - Stockholm, Sweden - Sodra Teatern
09.26.17 - Berlin, Germany - Berghain
09.27.17 - Leipzig, Germany - UT Connewitz
09.28.17 - Prague, Czech - Meet Factory
09.29.17 - Vienna, Austria - Waves
09.30.17 - Budapest, Hungary - Dürer Kert
10.02.17 - Belgrade, Serbia - Drugstore
10.03.17 - Zagreb, Croatia - Mocvara
10.04.17 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Siska
10.06.17 - Bologna, Italy - Locomotiv
10.07.17 - Prato, Italy - FAB
10.08.17 - Naples, Italy - Lanificio 25
10.10.17 - Bern, Switzerland - Dachstock
10.11.17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
10.12.17 - Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefährlich
10.13.17 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bitterzoet
10.14.17 - Paris, France - Badaboum
10.16.17 - Bristol, UK - The Lantern
10.18.17 - London, UK - Village Underground
10.19.17 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt
10.20.17 - Leeds, UK - Headrow House
10.21.17 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla
10.25.17 - Warsaw, Poland - Teatr Warsawy
10.27.17 - Athens, Greece - Six Dogs
10.28.17 - Istanbul, Turkey - Salon ISKV
11.14.17 - New York, NY - Good Room
11.15:.17 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
11.18.17 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo
11.29.17 - Braga, Portugal - GNRation
11.30.17 - Lisbon, Portugal - ZDB
12.01.17 - Madrid, Spain - Caracol