Track By Tracks: Abrasive Trees - Light Remaining (2026)

In this article, we explore the story behind each track on the new album, Light Remaining, with band leader Matthew Rochford. We also speak with visual artist Grebo Gray, who shares the inspiration and methods behind the striking artwork featured on the album cover.

The Track By Track

I had written and demo’d much of this album at home on my own during 2023 and 2024, although some of the songs evolved from ideas much older - from 2019 and even earlier. The exception to this is ‘Star Sapphire’, which was written by our guitarist, Jay, about three years ago. When it came to the studio sessions, we recorded drums, guitars and bass live in the studio and then added lots of layers afterwards at our producer Niall’s studio.

To me, it’s all about expressing the feelings behind the tracks, that what I was aiming for, and that is the most important aspect of my creativity. I think that’s also similar to Grebo’s approach with his artwork, which probably explains why we ended up working together.

1. No Solace:

This is very much a song written in the aftermath of a traumatic series of events. The original demo is very spontaneous, and the words came out very layered with complexity.

Often when we really want something, it ends up being totally different to what we had imagined, and realising this can be painful, yet also a great opportunity to focus on what we really want.

This song is all about that. It’s a statement of intent, of moving on, of healing and satisfaction around making the right decision.

Niall really helped to polish the ideas and clarify the many layers we wanted on this.

Lyrics:

There’s only so much I can take

This is all too complex for me

I walk away

Clearing the path

For love and what’s lost

In my heart I am at peace

The dust may hover

But I am reconciled

We were flying

Clear of the buildings

Nothing in our way

The truth inside us

I cleansed my heart (we cleansed our heart)

We broke the line

I trusted myself (we trusted ourselves)

I trusted myself

An uphill struggle

A series of sharp falls to the ground

Ordinary life is impossible

Nirvana is possible

He says goodbye

And sheds a skin

Emerge and occupy

The landscape within

Is this the dream

A holy hell

Drunk or sober

Tears from a well

We were so brave

We went beyond

We touched the ground

We tasted the sky

A famine for my eyes

A drought for my ears

A win torn away from me

At the most precious time

As the echoes reverberate

A stone in the pond

The water on my feet

The water on my crown

It’s not our fault

Nowhere to turn

Good while it lasted

May heaven prevail

Karma is king

Wisdom a fool

What is happening?

My head is a ruin

My heart is awash

There’s nowhere to hide

I ask you for guidance

I’m diffusing a bomb

2. Star Sapphire:

Jay wrote these amazing riffs and had been playing around with them for a while - and had even started to record them at home. The track evolved from sessions Jay and I did at my house, in the small music room/meditation room/office. Jay taught me the main riff, and the name came from some lyrics/vocals I tried with it that went something like this:

Black light, like a Star Sapphire

Of course, it ended up not needing any lyrics; it’s Jay’s work and stands on its own two feet, but this is where the name came from. The arrangement evolved from a bunch of rehearsals with Ben (our original bass player and cellist), Jerome (our original drummer) and then with Will (our current drummer). The first time we played it was at the Fish Factory in Penryn, Cornwall - which I think ended up being Jerome’s final show with us. There was an alternative name for the song (from Ben) - ‘Putin’s Womb’, lol.

I really like where we ended up with this one, and Niall really found the right spaces for the guitars.

3. Tao To Earth:

This one evolved over what felt like an age, but was probably only about 6 months. It started as an experiment and lots of really rough demos featuring a couple of synths I had - a Micro Brute and a Korg MS20, there was also a digital Tampura box (Indian drone) I had for a while and the Korg drum machine. Initially, I played this one solo, debuting it at an event in my home town, Totnes, which was a bit terrifying. It then evolved into a more refined version I played during a solo set supporting The Utopia Strong, and then the full band version we play now.

I can’t remember when the poem started to be featured, but the words came out of an incredible, lucid dream I had when I was in my twenties, not long after my mother died and around the time my father visited me in Northumberland. It was a slightly crazy time in my life - grief, smoking too much pot, learning Tai Chi, reading Carlos Castenada, moving to rural Northumberland from Gateshead. I was feeling pretty depressed, but then one night I had this incredibly vivid dream where I seemed to receive this powerful message from some deeper level of consciousness telling me what I need to do with my life. I woke up feeling elated, purposeful, and with a level of clarity I had never felt before. It may seem a little pretentious, arrogant even, but it wasn’t like that, it was just a simple message my mind had experienced in a dream. The poem is about that. I don’t actually believe in ‘God’, but I do believe in the Divine, and somehow ‘God’ worked better in the poem.

I only wrote it down in 2019, and my father helped me edit the words. The poem formed part of a collection I put together in 2020 - not long after my father died. All the poems in the collection were edited by us; he was very generous in how he worked with me on these, and I think most of his edits remained. I couldn’t really top them.

He was a great poet, and he really knew how to edit. His philosophy for writing was “every word must earn it’s place” - hence the relatively succinct poem, slightly revised for the actual song.

I awoke within a dream

And heard the voice of God:

‘Understanding in darkness.

Try harder to bear the world around you.

Rooting in radiance.’

Is this the Tao,

talking to the earth?

I am in a garden,

a planted tree

The sky clear

Good morning father sun

(Son).

4. Flickering Flame:

I really like John Elliot from the band The Little Unsaid. I think it was a friend, Christian Murison, who introduced me to their music, not my normal listen, but his composition skills are so good, and his songs always have something unexpected within them. I was lucky enough to meet him and hang out a bit when he was recording Chris Cleverly’s album ‘Broadcast The Secret Verse’ in my then boss’s Katie Whitehouse’s basement back in 2022 or 2023. It was a privilege to be around when that was happening, and we often had lunch together as I took a break from my (former) work as a booking agent.

At some point in 2024, John announced he would be running an online songwriting course, so I signed up. It was a good course, mainly folk song writers, ha ha, but I still got a lot out of it. As part of the course, we had to write a song that had certain rules that we could choose - something that would be challenging but still doable. He gave us a few themes to choose from, and I added the rule that it had to be in 5:8 time. I started with the bass line and then added some Korg MS20 vibes, maybe some guitar. The lyrics came out of my probably unhealthy obsession with death and past predilection with depression. I wanted to explore how my death might feel like - kind of a mixture of fear and also weird confidence in karma. This is the result, albeit one that became 6:8 instead of the original time signature - although if you really listen, my bass line reverts back to 5:8 during some of the end section.

Like a Night Butterfly

To a dying flame

I will pass away alone

Will I smoothly slip away

From a life lived so well

Even though, I could not tell?

A demise is just the start

No solace for me

No long goodbye

No great last stand

A promise I made

A promise I made

I will never forget the love

I am a flickering flame

My mind it would not be tamed

I will pass away alone

I will pass away alone

A solace for me

A solace for me

I will never forget the love

5. Carved Skull:

The lyrics of this one are all about wanting this horrendous time of collective gaslighting and deliberate division to be over, and how this is having a horrible effect on humanity. Maybe it’s a bit cheesy to say this, but deciding to live in the best possible way, to lead by example, to look after your own state of mind in order to help others, seems like the only life worth living.

It’s an audacious song in many ways, both lyrically and musically. But I kind of love that.

The original, instrumental demo was a real experiment. It sounded like loads of synths were involved, but none were. It was really fun evolving it with Jay, Will and Ben and felt so good when we played it for the first time, and people seemed to absolutely love it.

Can we write a eulogy, for this current age?

And leave the lies behind

Our fears are carved upon our skull

Our pain upon our skin

Did you choose, a world where kindness reigns?

Can you find the love in your heart?

Our tears are formed, from the fact that we all care

Our bonds, our humanity

Are we divided?

What does it take to be your own best friend,

And reach beyond the walls?

Can you find, a reason just to be,

And create the peace you crave?

Are we divided?

6. I Didn’t Mean To Hurt You:

The riffs for most of this are ancient history. Back in 1994, I borrowed (without asking) my brother’ twelve string guitar and travelled around the country, mainly hitchhiking. From Aberdeen to Mull to Edinburgh to Newcastle and to Wiltshire. I had met an amazing person, but it didn’t work out between us. I wrote most of these riffs as a response to that time, using a drop D tuning and just picking away at my brother’s twelve-string. I think there’s also an Indian influence in this. I remember enjoying the Sitar-like vibes of the guitar when I was playing around with the initial versions and settling on this Eastern-like mode.

Ben and I actually played a version of this at the first Abrasive Trees live performances (first back in 2019).

The end, slightly doom-rock section came out of a jam Will and I had in the Barrel House in 2023/2024? It’s the icing on the cake.

It’s long, like really long, but it’s designed to be a journey, so I think it works.

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