Los Angeles artist Forest has officially announced her debut album, Swan Dive, arriving September 25, 2026 via AWAL. To mark the announcement, she’s shared the new single “Anchor,” a track that trades in emo-tinged breakdowns and grounding drums for a portrait of what it feels like to be tethered to memories you can’t quite outrun.

“‘Anchor’ delves into the idea of becoming wrapped up in something you can’t get out of,” Forest explains. “It was written in my childhood bedroom on a trip to Chicago, at a time when I had felt the past wrap its arms around me. The thought of being stuck and tied to the past was the driving thought throughout this track.”

Stream “Anchor” here: https://www.youtube.com/@forestband

Swan Dive is Forest’s most fully realized work to date, expanding the alt-rock foundation of her earlier singles into something bigger, stranger, and more fluid. Across ten tracks, walls of distorted guitars collide with electronic textures, industrial undercurrents, and moments of unexpectedly bright pop clarity. It’s an intimate record that can turn overwhelming in the span of a few measures, shifting from whispered confession into full emotional freefall without warning.

The album follows a run of singles that have steadily raised her profile. “Lay With Me” thrashed forward on chugging riffs and sweet-but-powerful vocals. “Whore & Savior,” praised by Alternative Press, built pummeling fuzz around a meditation on young love, desire, and the impossible expectations placed on women. And “Prosthetic Stars” opened her 2026 with stadium-ready riffs and shimmering synths, anchoring emotional weight to melodic swell.

Recorded almost entirely in producer Aaron Liebman’s backyard garage studio, Swan Dive leans into experimentation. Electronic sounds weave through live instrumentation, processed textures blur into organic riffs, and layered arrangements build a world that feels dreamlike without losing its humanity. Influences from The Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Snake River Conspiracy, and Elliott Smith drift through the DNA, but Forest is chasing a language of her own.

The title itself points to the record’s ethos. Sparked by a framed swan photograph Forest spotted in a hotel bathroom two years ago, Swan Dive absorbed the doomed romance of Swan Lake, the lifelong pair bonds of swans, and an old internet myth claiming a swan will plummet to its death after losing its mate. Dramatic, beautiful, lonely, and a little absurd, the album is less concerned with safe landings than with the leap itself.

Forest hits The Echo in Los Angeles on July 23 with Fake Dad and FIME for RockNite LA, and heads out this fall in support of ivri across the West Coast, kicking off September 28 in Portland.

FOREST LIVE 2026
July 23 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo (w/ Fake Dad)
September 28 — Portland, OR @ Holocene (w/ ivri)
September 29 — Vancouver @ Biltmore Cabaret (w/ ivri)
September 30 — Seattle, WA @ Barboza (w/ ivri)
October 5 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room (w/ ivri)
October 6 — Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ ivri)
October 7 — Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge (w/ ivri)

SWAN DIVE Tracklist
1. Vulture
2. Anchor
3. Prosthetic Stars
4. Breathe Out
5. Hot One
6. Juliet
7. Lay With Me
8. Divine Machine
9. Whatever You Want
10. Whore & Savior

Pre-save Swan Dive ahead of its September 25, 2026 release via AWAL, and follow Forest on Instagram at @forestband__ to keep up with everything on the horizon.