Dagger Paths is an EP by English record producer and visual artist Matthew Barnes under the pseudonym Forest Swords.[1] It was released on 1 March 2010, through Olde English Spelling Bee.[2] It received critical acclaim.[1]
Dagger Paths was originally released on 1 March 2010, through Olde English Spelling Bee.[2] It was reissued on 22 November 2010, through No Pain in Pop.[5] The reissue edition includes two extra tracks from a 7-inch single: "Rattling Cage" and "Hjurt".[6] Limited edition package of the reissue edition also comes with a bonus disc,[7] containing early Forest Swords songs, remixes by other artists, and a lengthy Forest Swords mix.[6]
The six early Forest Swords songs found on the reissue edition's bonus disc were later officially released in 2011 as the Fjree Feather EP, through No Pain in Pop.[8] They had first appeared on a self-released EP of the same name, prior to Dagger Paths.[9]
Simon Hampson of Fact stated, "As Forest Swords plugs away relentlessly at his glacial riffs, with percussion bursting through like artillery fire, there's this really affecting sense of being witness to some very private act of catharsis."[12] He added, "This is an overwhelmingly sad record, but at the same time a curiously hopeful one – the stunning cover of Aaliyah's 'If Your Girl', for example, is all dying-ember drones and ghostly hums until it suddenly flutters away into an almost ecstatic crescendo."[12] In a review of the reissue edition, Marc Masters of Pitchfork commented that "All the elements and styles that Barnes collects like a magnet quickly align toward one unmistakable musical vision."[6]
