Forest Swords
Thekla, Bristol | 10 April
Bristol’s famous boozy boat – now amazingly 30 years young – lends itself to a remarkable range of styles. But Forest Swords’ disembodied, aqueous samples and face-fuzzing bass felt particularly suitable, as the unassuming, courteous producer from the Wirral rattled through material from his debut album Engravings.
With such a rich pallet exhibited on Engravings, it was mildly disappointing to find Matthew Barnes operating a midi controller and sampler rather than a zombie dub orchestra. Nonetheless, facing a bassist and switching between an electric guitar and his melody machinery (or occasionally operating both at the same time), Forest Swords’ sparse chamber-dub and otherworldly electronic melodies filled the Thekla’s every nook and cranny.
Highlights included Anneka’s Battle – an otherworldly computer game score – and the hypnotic The Weight of Gold. The early curfew – common as it is on a weeknight when there’s a club night after – did take something away from the atmosphere. Just as the night drew in and the heads started nodding more enthusiastically (you could try dancing, but…) the show ended, and the captivated crowd were turfed out by 9.30pm. But this is a minor quibble: what Forest Swords offers is a timeless kind of electronic meditation, and any hour of the day is the right time for that.
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Words: Adam Corner
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