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- Summary: This is the first full-length studio release from British electronic producer Forest Swords since 2017's Compassion.
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- Record Label: Ninja Tune
- Genre(s): Electronic, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Electronic, Post-Rock, Experimental Dub
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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Oct 23, 2023The sound design is absolutely phenomenal, rich in detail. New components, from the clanging of chimes to the rattling or chains, enter from moment to moment. It’s every bit the album Engravings was: a vast world of sound unfolding on a battlefield which exists between the ears.
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Oct 23, 2023It’s a scintillating sliver of glass to the senses – a defiant, desolate, and darkly beautiful album that commands multiple listens and highlights once more that Forest Swords is and always has been at the top of his game.
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Oct 23, 2023This is the return that so many of us have been waiting for, and his ability to come through on nearly all levels establishes Bolted as one of the very best albums of this year, electronic or otherwise.
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Oct 23, 2023It's always fascinating to hear Barnes take Forest Swords' distinctive musical vocabulary in different directions, especially when the results are as eloquent as Bolted.
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Oct 30, 2023A fascinating return, ‘Bolted’ is often greyscale in tone and shading; rolling back the physicality of ‘Compassion’, it seems to find Forest Swords revelling in a more minimalist, yet also profoundly empathetic space.
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MojoOct 23, 2023A masterclass in sound design, Bolted creeps up slowly then engulfs you. [Dec 2023, p.91]
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Nov 10, 2023Rather than sounding as if they’ve been optimized by a digital studio, his beats tend to impart the illusion of different objects crashing to the ground at varying distances. They’re loose, anxious assemblages that leave plenty of space for the ear to play in.