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Bolted
Bolted in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $16.99
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Size: CD
An acclaimed composer as well as an innovative producer,
Forest Swords
'
Matthew Barnes
spent several years after the release of 2017's
Compassion
scoring dance pieces, art installations, and films that suited the physicality and vivid imagination within his formidable beats and pensive melodies. Arriving six years after that album,
Bolted
shows his style lost none of its edge during that time. Nor has it lost its ability to surprise: based on the progression from
Engravings
' smoky collages to
's solemn majesty, it seemed
Barnes
would continue to artfully prune his approach, but his third album trades spacious sonics for some of
' densest-sounding music since 2010's debut EP,
Dagger Paths
. "Munitions" was one of the first pieces he wrote for the album, and it sets the tone for what's to come. Beats scrape and clank, vocals fade in and out like a ghostly transmission, and a fluty melody weaves in and out of the distorted fray. It couldn't be more fitting that
created
in a space that used to be a warehouse. "Rubble" and "Chain Link" artfully evoke abandoned spaces -- or people -- with their weathered and metallic tones. Whether he tempers the noise with taut and brooding strings on the aforementioned tracks or hones the chromatic percussion on "Hjope" to gleaming points, his impressive control over the album's distressed palette reflects his music's restraint in a completely different way than
did. At the time of
's release, the crumbling, dystopian feel of
' music was only more relevant than it was in the 2010s, and
somehow manages to inject even more tension into its tracks than on his previous releases. On "Caged," he toys with his listeners, luring them in with mournful choral vocals before the mood turns treacherous. "The Low" is as catchy as it is menacing, almost by default; its industrial-gamelan-trip-hop mashup is so claustrophobic, it's inescapable. Though the sound design may be
's most immediately gripping aspect, its heartsick atmosphere might be the most memorable.
was recovering from a painful leg injury while making the album, and suffering feels ingrained in its finest moments. "Did I say too much?/Or not enough?"
Neneh Cherry
laments on "Butterfly Effect"'s anguished elegance. On the closing epic "Line's Gone Cold," Barnes samples the late
Lee "Scratch" Perry
(who remixed
' 2013 single "Thor's Stone") for the haunting finale. It's always fascinating to hear
take
' distinctive musical vocabulary in different directions, especially when the results are as eloquent as
. ~ Heather Phares
Forest Swords
'
Matthew Barnes
spent several years after the release of 2017's
Compassion
scoring dance pieces, art installations, and films that suited the physicality and vivid imagination within his formidable beats and pensive melodies. Arriving six years after that album,
Bolted
shows his style lost none of its edge during that time. Nor has it lost its ability to surprise: based on the progression from
Engravings
' smoky collages to
's solemn majesty, it seemed
Barnes
would continue to artfully prune his approach, but his third album trades spacious sonics for some of
' densest-sounding music since 2010's debut EP,
Dagger Paths
. "Munitions" was one of the first pieces he wrote for the album, and it sets the tone for what's to come. Beats scrape and clank, vocals fade in and out like a ghostly transmission, and a fluty melody weaves in and out of the distorted fray. It couldn't be more fitting that
created
in a space that used to be a warehouse. "Rubble" and "Chain Link" artfully evoke abandoned spaces -- or people -- with their weathered and metallic tones. Whether he tempers the noise with taut and brooding strings on the aforementioned tracks or hones the chromatic percussion on "Hjope" to gleaming points, his impressive control over the album's distressed palette reflects his music's restraint in a completely different way than
did. At the time of
's release, the crumbling, dystopian feel of
' music was only more relevant than it was in the 2010s, and
somehow manages to inject even more tension into its tracks than on his previous releases. On "Caged," he toys with his listeners, luring them in with mournful choral vocals before the mood turns treacherous. "The Low" is as catchy as it is menacing, almost by default; its industrial-gamelan-trip-hop mashup is so claustrophobic, it's inescapable. Though the sound design may be
's most immediately gripping aspect, its heartsick atmosphere might be the most memorable.
was recovering from a painful leg injury while making the album, and suffering feels ingrained in its finest moments. "Did I say too much?/Or not enough?"
Neneh Cherry
laments on "Butterfly Effect"'s anguished elegance. On the closing epic "Line's Gone Cold," Barnes samples the late
Lee "Scratch" Perry
(who remixed
' 2013 single "Thor's Stone") for the haunting finale. It's always fascinating to hear
take
' distinctive musical vocabulary in different directions, especially when the results are as eloquent as
. ~ Heather Phares
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