Uploaded November 2019 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago

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Taken from Forest Swords' original score for 'The Machine Air', out now.
Buy vinyl/t-shirts/merch: https://forestswords.ochre.store/

Official store: kontrabandstor.es/forestswords
Official website: forestswords.co.uk
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Visuals by Liam Young and Unknown Fields

Listen to Forest Swords on Spotify: tinyurl.com/FS-spotify
Watch Forest Swords videos: bit.ly/2EE6Jx0

"Forest Swords, aka electronic producer and composer Matthew Barnes, presents the original score for 'The Machine Air', a film by speculative architect and director Liam Young. The first film to be recorded entirely on drones, it premiered in its original form at BFI London Film Festival, and has been screened at the likes of Sonar Festival and Eindhoven Bienniale.

Edited and sculpted into 14 tracks, Matthew Barnes' score mirrors the film's cut and paste claustrophobia: smeared sci-fi synth and beautiful distorted melodies rattle alongside metronomic rhythms and stretched samples, rewiring the hums of flying vehicles into warped and contorted sound design.

‘The Machine Air’s soundtrack navigates the tension of this tech in our lives: drones simultaneously used as autonomous killing machines or aid delivery vehicles; surveillance robots or Amazon shopping tools. While Matthew Barnes’ previous work has retooled organic and human sounds into modern electronic worlds, here he pushes and pulls the music into beautiful, more dystopian shapes, combining with Young’s visuals to give a chilly glimpse into the near future."