Forest Swords, (a.k.a Merseyside-based producer Matthew Barnes) will soon return with a new full-length record on Ninja Tune.

Compassion is the follow up to 2013’s debut Engravings, and lands after the label announced they had signed a new track, “The Highest Flood,” earlier this month.

The release is 10 tracks long and will be followed by a set of projects across multiple mediums by Forest Swords’ own Dense Truth, a new experimental studio and record label, including a series of music videos.

“Like many, with all that’s been going on since I started making the record, I’ve struggled to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel,” says Barnes, “so I realised there’s some sort of power in trying to create our own instead. I’m inspired by the ways we’re communicating now, for better or worse, and thinking about new channels we can distribute ideas. The idea of looking for flexible future ways of expression and language, that bends to our needs quicker, really excites me”.

Barnes launched the record with a unique experiment in new ways to disseminate music, personally sending album tracks through messaging app WhatsApp to anyone who asked.

Tracklisting 

01. War It
02. The Highest Flood
03. Panic
04. Exalter
05. Border Margin Barrier
06. Arms Out
07. Vandalism
08. Sjurvival
09. Raw Language
10. Knife Edge

Compassion is scheduled for May 5 release via Ninja Tune, with the video for “Arms Out” streamable in full above.