limited gatefold 180 gram clear vinyl LP + art booklet + inserts + MP3 download code

Forest Swords man Matthew Barnes has described Compassion, his long anticipated follow-up to 2013 debut Engravings, as a "sonic distillation of an uncertain world". Interestingly, it sounds rather more poignant than his previous work, which tended towards the dark, dystopian and uncomfortable. Musically, it offers an attractive and intriguing blend of acoustic instrumentation, real and synthesized orchestration, a huge range of sampled voices, and beats and textures created through electronic means. It's not neo-classical, but neither is it pure electronica, either. Instead, Barnes has delivered a sublime hybrid whose effortless beauty struggles manfully to escape from the dark shadow of current affairs.