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May 5, 2017Compassion may feel especially timely, but music this passionately realized will always be worth revisiting.
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May 5, 2017It is poignant and ragged with suffering, but it doesn't dwell there. It is also bright, optimistic and euphoric.
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May 9, 2017There’s an incredible amount of space at play on Compassion; the instrumentation and samples inhale and exhale, breathing life into the tracks.
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Jun 23, 2017Compassion is a major grower, but this is because its fusions don’t all immediately translate. Barnes profits from holding onto some of the answers.
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May 18, 2017There is something martial, something insistent, to Compassion. True to his aims, Barnes has created something that denies passivity.
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Q MagazineMay 9, 2017It all peaks on Raw Language, distorted saxophone and choral voices speaking together with thrilling intensity. [Jul 2017, p.107]
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May 9, 2017With all of his projects, Barnes continues to challenge himself and his audience, and Compassion's fascinating mix of power and atmosphere is the most finely honed version of Forest Swords yet.
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May 5, 2017Overall, this is a dazzling and unique album that often veers from reassuring to disconcerting in the space of a single track.
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May 5, 2017Forest Swords was already becoming quickly respected for his deftness of touch when dealing with both musical and emotional tone. Compassion demonstrates he is very capable of weaving them together until they are intrinsically entwined.
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May 5, 2017It’s at times heart-stopping and at others movingly barren, but is always thoroughly arresting.
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ExclaimMay 5, 2017While Barnes is definitely well-versed in musical melancholy, there's also a thoughtful, sensitive part to balance all this pathos.
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May 9, 2017While Forest Swords has always hidden hooks in his music that reveal themselves upon repeat listens, Compassion is by far his most approachable album at first pass.
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Jul 5, 2017Compassion is slightly less impenetrable and esoteric than Barnes' other albums, its emotions slightly more telegraphed. But it loses none of his power to enthral, disturb and enthuse.