London-based alt/folk newcomers a forest are proud to reveal their debut single ‘Something I Need’, set for release on 24th March 2026 via Wipe Out Music, following an exclusive first play from Daniel P Carter on the BBC R1 Rock Show last night.
The track is the first to be taken from their forthcoming debut EP, set for release at the end of 2026, with further details to be announced over the coming months.
Already booked to appear at 2000trees Festival this summer, a forest will be announcing further live dates in the near future.
A song that details the difficulty of processing big information and emotions inspired by receiving “bad calls”, the single is a promising glimpse of just one facet of what’s to come from the debut collection.
“This first single had a working title of ‘Bad Call’ for maybe four years, but it seemed a bit too on the nose,” says front man Matthew Hughes of the track. “I think when writing the music for the EP, this was always going to be the first thing I released. It’s perhaps a bit more rock influenced than a lot of the music from a forest, but as a statement, musically and lyrically, it’s perfect. As much as originally in my head, I wanted the whole thing to sound as bleak as ‘Nebraska’ by Springsteen.”
a forest is a creative collective formed around solo artist and songwriter Matthew Hughes, working with a group of talented, selfless friends who are willing to lend their time, talent, and love to a project they all believe in.
Primarily a solo artist and singer-songwriter inspired to write songs shaped over time and distance about love, loss, fatherhood, family, optimism and dread, Hughes’ material focuses on the relationships he has with his family, and his own personal issues and struggles with anxiety.
The origins of a forest hark back to 2020, in the midst of the global lock down. Hughes checked in with friends across the world, some of whom he hadn’t seen or spoken to for years. One of those friends was Andrew Groves, guitarist, front-man and singer of the band Arcane Roots, an act Hughes used to manage alongside his day-job role as a leading music industry publicist.
Losing touch after their working relationship ended, Groves moved to Iceland with his young family, having called time on the band to focus on other musical pursuits. Hughes reached out to see how he was doing, that he was thinking of him and his family, and that he hoped they would see each other again when the world opened up again.
Groves’ reply was something which would inspire the whole project: “Andrew encouraged me to learn the guitar, write songs, and get creative,” explains Hughes. “He was willing to give over his time and energy to help me write music and develop into someone who could possibly, potentially release their own music.”
A pact was struck to assist Hughes in rewriting a collection of songs he had co-written 15 years prior, with his Diesel U Music Award-winning band, Chalk. Initially, the goal was to freshen them up, break them down, and translate them into a more stripped-back folk and acoustic direction. Soon, though, things changed, and the desire to press on with new material with a more contemporary sound was impossible to ignore.
“I would spend days, weeks on snap shots of ideas,” says Hughes. “Some tiny bits and pieces, as I was slowly learning how to create a bigger, whole musical piece. I would record audio notes, most of the time with spoken explanations (that varied in sense), and fire them over. I have no idea how he put up with my constant musical harassment!”
2 years deep into their long-distance songwriting relationship via voice note, it was the sharing of one particular song that took the project in a more focused direction. Hughes had written a track called ‘The Dread’—a song about his struggles with social anxiety and claustrophobia. Groves called him back straight away.
“I remember that was the track where I think Andrew knew I could actually do this,” recalls Hughes. “We could actually take what was inside of my brain, get it down and make new music together. It was still rough, and it still doesn’t have an ending, even now, but that was the moment it became a forest.”
Several years of badly recorded demos, Zoom writing sessions, cover version ideas, and a multitude of ‘not quite right’ songs followed. Now, in 2026, Hughes and Groves—along with vital key and cog, mixer and master engineer Mark Roberts (Black Peaks, Delta Sleep, Jamie Lenman)—have hit their stride, and are set to unleash the initial fruits of their labour.
“Andrew is my brother,” states Hughes emphatically. “Without him, there is no a forest. Without him, I would never have taken the time to write, and learn how to write, over the last few years, and without him, these songs would not sound anywhere near as great as they do. That is all him, and I owe him everything. Equally, Mark is the rock. He is the glue that pieces everything together, and he is what helps makes a forest sound like it does.”
Extending the tight-knit family concept around a forest even further, the artwork for ‘Something I Need’ was created by Seatton, a non-verbal artist with learning differences based at Artbox London, where Hughes’ artist wife Katie Parsons volunteers as an Art Facilitator. Seatton was also recently commissioned by musician CMAT to create the album artwork for her Mercury Prize-nominated 2023 album Crazymad, for Me.
Stay tuned for more new music and live dates from a forest in the coming months.
Live Dates:
8-11 July – 2000trees Festival
Image provided by Derek Bremner
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
LISTEN NOW
CAPTIVATING READS
Our blog is packed with articles and stories based around lifestyle, business, design and wellbeing. Subscribe now to get all of our updated directly to your inbox every week.
