The Old Market, Hove continue their groundbreaking venue events with an inspiring programme of performances through In The Box.
This is an exclusive two-week festival this November that takes events and turns them 360 degrees with both a visual and soundscape that completely envelopes participants. This festival is an opportunity to see new and favourite artists in a brand-new way surrounded by visuals and sound.
On Friday 22nd November, the venue welcomed Forest Swords, the moniker for electronic producer, composer and visual artist Matthew Barnes, currently based in Liverpool, and support act Banxi AKA Caroline Banks.
Banxi is an internationally focused DJ and former Mixmag Future Hero, who’s currently residing in Brighton after many years DJing abroad in Ibiza, Goa and China. Banxi was a welcome addition to the In the Box lineup at TOM. Having made the city her home just before lockdown in 2020, her love of dance music, experience in both DJing and producing, and her style of melodic techno, complemented Forest Swords perfectly.
The accompanying visuals really added a special dimension to this act and whilst offering the perfect musical accompaniment to kicking off a Friday night, it was also a visual feast in a way that felt more than a gig, and like an immersive theatrical experience. Absolutely loved the impact of this approach to live music. I can’t think of any other venue in Brighton and Hove which is approaching showcasing music and acts in the same way. The performances for the night, and the venue was a slice of cutting edge metropolitan culture and I am absolutely here for that! Great to see female pioneers and performers as part of that too.
Barnes who played this gig as the penultimate night of a short european tour packed the venue out for the night. I’m new to the music of Forest Swords but The Old Market filled up with a mix of devotees and also newcomers like myself. A mostly (well dressed) male audience came to watch the artist, who landed for one night only. The 360 degree approach to the show placed the musuician in the centre of the venue with the audience around him which worked really well as a way to access the music and take in the visual feast at the same time.
The set comprised parts of both an album as well as a double Torch / Pearl of Hail single launch. Forest Swords has created remixes for Björk, Anohni, These New Puritans, Wild Beasts, as well as more mainstream pop acts in addition to creating his own music.
The artist, is a multi-talented creator in addition to his production skills, and working as a graphic designer, is also composing new music for islands, performed by National Ballet of Canada at Sadlers Wells theatre, London and an upcoming production of Greek tragedy Fedra, performing at the following ancient theatres across Italy.
Kicking off his set with first track Tar, and following up with Ambient, and then The Low, he offered an array of sweeping instrumental soundscapes which whilst roundly fitting into wider dance music genres, could also easily be featured as film music or for creative installation pieces. The pairing of the 360 visuals offered something of a jumping off point for the 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. This wasn’t referenced, but there were echoes of this for me in the background display.
Forest Swords as an artist is known for rewiring sounds into innovative and unique new worlds, most recently on the acclaimed album Bolted (Ninja Tune), remixes for the likes of Bjork, and collaborations with Massive Attack and Neneh Cherry. Track four of the set was War It, a minimalist melodic composition which I loved and which just kept growing and growing. Next up was Thor’s Stone, a slow starting build up with electronic flute and piano which was sublime.
The track Crow was my personal favourite of the evening with its haunting refrain sounding like a lazy kazoo. Barne’s immersive albums and live shows (seen at festivals including Barcelona’s Sonar, Unsound and Glastonbury) explore * checks notes* the powerful in-between spaces between ancient and future sounds, melancholy and euphoria, light and dark.
The latter part of the set encompassed Barne’s 2017 Ninja Tune composition Panic, followed by last year’s track Caged which was reminiscent of Icelandic group Sigur Rós’s work.
He followed this up with the 8-minute odyssey Friend You Will Never Learn, and finally The Highest Flood from the album Bolted on Ninja Tune records to hearty applause. Hopefully it won’t be long before Forest Swords is back in the building once more!
IN THE BOX festival runs until the end of November 2024, and has a MULTI-BUY OFFER – Book two or more events at the same time, and save 20%.
