It’s a fascinating time for music, isn’t it? Production technology, with its newfound surge in interest and investment, is at it’s zenith. Seriously, have you ever tried out a recent version of one of these products? You can literally do anything. It’s unreal. This admittedly isn’t always a good thing. Encountering unlimited possibility can be overwhelming to some, and this is where the recent influx of EDM stems from. Instead of exploring the vast depths of Protools or Ableton or whatever these guys are using, they take the easy route and follow the brightly lit path of whatever technique is the most popular at that time. I’m not saying this is a bad thing; it’s just easy, and often leads to people who – let’s be honest here – probably just shouldn’t be making music in the first place, getting famous off of well established formulas.
Fortunately, this side effect has a sort of weird role reversal thing where it gives creative access to minds that would have otherwise never had the chance to flourish. In this day and age, anyone with the right technological savvy and finesse has access to an entire orchestra – and much more – at their fingertips. It’s the same 1,000 monkeys on a 1,000 typewriters thing, but with Protools and the slightly less stupid human species. Every now and then someone will realize what unlimited possibility actually means, and create something entirely unique. Forest Swords is one of these artists.
Engravings isn’t the first we’ve heard of Forest Swords, who goes by Matthew Barnes in the real world. The producer broke onto the scene with the Dagger Paths EP back in 2010, a debut so realized and accomplished that it gained instant recognition and acclaim, ending up on many year end lists. Dagger Paths had such a complete sound going for it that this year’s Engravings sounds like a mere extension of the sound instead of a new route altogether, a similarity hinted at in the cover art for both records. Both sound as though they were recorded and based on the same part of the same ancient forest, as does the art for both records. Barnes’ day job as a graphic designer has a huge influence on his work as Forest Swords; the incredibly DIY nature of the music leaves it painfully, beautifully obvious that he is a true auteur, commanding control of every aspect of his output.
This is where my ramble about production technology comes into play. I was blown away to learn that the entiritey of this album had been made on Barnes’ laptop; if you’ve heard Engravings, or even Dagger Paths, you know what I’m talking about. Despite this record being electronic in every sense of the word, it sounds absolutely organic. Barnes’ mastery over his craft has allowed him to create sounds and textures which are as real as thing real thing (if not more in some cases, if that makes any sense? by creating and “playing” these instruments directly within the software, he bypasses the usually obvious recorded nature of what you’re hearing, instead creating timbres that feel like the instruments are being played directly to you. It’s a fascinating feat of production that really needs to be heard to be understood.)
If you’ve noticed, I haven’t spoken much about what the actual music sounds like. That’s because, truthfully, I can’t. Not without doing some disservice to the music itself. Drawing comparisons to other music would be dishonest as this record truly does sound like nothing else, and there’s no sense trying to squeeze this into a box that it very clearly won’t fit in. Instead, the best route to take with this album is to appreciate it for what it is: an entirely original and mesmerizing piece of work that can be wholly enjoyed for not only itself, but as an indicator that “laptop music” is as much a gift as it can be a curse.
Rating: 5/5