Arcane Roots Return From Hiatus With New Single A Wave, Across The Sea
Friday, 30 January 2026
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Miguel Santana Da Silva
Arcane Roots have returned with their first new single in eight years, A Wave, Across The Sea.
Released via their new label, Big Scary Monsters, the six-minute track opens with haunting piano and ambient textures before building through alt-rock passages to a cathartic crescendo, showcasing the London band's technical prowess.
Returning after disbanding in 2018, and expanding from a three-piece to a five-piece, with founding member Daryl Atkins re-joining on drums alongside Icelandic composer Bjarni Biering, the band have also been confirmed for 2000trees and ArcTanGent Festival as 2026 festival exclusives. Warm up shows ahead of those appearances are to be announced soon. On their return, guitarist-vocalist Andrew Groves said:
"When we disbanded the band in 2018, it was always with the understanding that we could return one day under better circumstances. Founding drummer Daryl Atkins and myself had long been looking for a way to continue creating together, after him needing to leave Arcane Roots in 2015. Our busy work schedules had other plans however and it wasn’t until a chance meeting with Icelandic composer Bjarni Biering, after relocating to Iceland in 2019, that we struck upon the unlikely songwriting partnership that we have today. Within a short time we felt we had something to share and began to set the stage to see if this could become the supergroup we’d all dreamed of. We’re still exploring that to this day, that excitement and challenge commands absolutely everything we do and it feels completely limitless right now."
Before their hiatus, Arcane Roots, completed by bassist Adam Burton and drummer Jack Wrench, had released three albums, 2012's 'Left Fire', 2013's 'Blood & Chemistry' and 2017's 'Melancholia Hymns', along with five EPs.
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