It’s been way too long since we’ve gotten to hear some bleak, immersive electronic music from Matthew Barnes, the British producer who calls himself Forest Swords. The last Forest Swords album was called Compassion, and it came out way back in 2017. That one came four years after Engravings. He’s also scored the indie film The Machine Air and the video game As Dusk Falls, and he’s done work for the Oslo Ballet. Today, Barnes is back with two heady, atmospheric new tracks.

The new two-song single “Butterfly Effect” b/w “Tar” is the first proper Forest Swords release in five years. “Butterfly Effect” warps and heaves magnificently, and it’s built on a previously unheard sample of Neneh Cherry, the great singer who fused rap and pop and dance in exciting new ways in the late ’80s. Here, she sounds like an impossibly sad ghost. “Tar” has no Neneh Cherry sample, but it brings that same feeling of lost souls wandering the wasteland.

Here’s what Barnes says about “Butterfly Effect”:

The track swirled around as a pure instrumental for a while, a beat I made in the cold factory space in Liverpool I was recording in, some kind of attempt to cope with the psychedelic amounts of pain I was in from a leg injury. Neneh’s unreleased archive vocal turned out to be a perfect fit, like they were meant to be together somehow. As a fan that has always idolized her, it’s a true honor and life highlight to have her blessing to use the vocal on this track.

Below, listen to “Butterfly Effect” and “Tar”:

“Butterfly Effect” b/w “Tar” is out now on Warp.