We are raising £12,600 for a creative musical celebration of nature in cities.

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Tree Oh!

Tree Oh! is asking if you will support their creative musical celebration of nature in cities - part of the urgent challenge to promote re-enchantment with nature in the face of the climate and ecological emergency. We wish to complete the recordings of the full album we began with our debut EP ‘Our Urban Nature’, to share the music and engage people. Already we’re delighted to have been invited to perform at the opening of the Hay Festival 2025, which is hopefully just a beginning.

Tree Oh! is a new musical collective made up of musicians and campaigners who combine their passion for music and nature with a determination that re-enchantment with the natural world is key to combating the climate and nature emergency. The songs, with roots in Swedish folk music, and influences ranging from classical, to pop and jazz – blending lyrics with sounds from viola, flute, harp and harmonica - weave a sense of wonder about the overlooked nature that surrounds us, and of which we are a part.

Our Urban Nature

The songs of Our Urban Nature celebrate unexpected moments of connection, meaning and quiet wonder with nature in urban places. They sing about very different green spaces in one of the world’s megacities, London, together with one inspired by a city nature reserve in Stockholm.

Nature in cities improves health, raises well being and protects against climate extremes but too often comes second to cars and building. Celebrating re-enchantment with urban nature is one way to win in the face of looming crises. A culture that celebrates people thriving within nature is more likely to make choices that pull us back from collapse.

Re-enchantment with nature

All the music is written by Tree Oh! - formed by the Swedish musicians Sara Nilsson, Anna Jonsson and Nina Wohlert, environmental performers for two decades with the environmental cabaret group Sweet Dreams. Words are by London based Andrew Simms, the author, campaigner and one of the brains behind things like Earth Overshoot Day, the Green New Deal, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Badvertising campaign against ads by climate polluters. The songs open a new door to spread awareness and curiosity about nature in towns and cities.

We have made it this far with hundreds of hours of unfunded effort but now need help to complete the project and take the music out into the world where, we hope, it can be part of a bigger cultural shift to build a stronger relationship with nature.

We were delighted to be invited to play at the opening night of the Hay Festival 2025 in the UK, one of the world's leading cultural festivals that showcases the best in literature and music, and features top public figures from the arts, campaigning and politics.

How it all began

Andrew and Anna, who also work together as green campaigners, were in the Stockholm archipelago, talking about what really makes change happen, and the idea of a creative, joint musical project evolved. From Andrew’s words inspired by decades living in the mighty but messy city of London, Anna started playing with melodies, and the first song, a climate anthem – Rise Up – appeared. Inspired by the nature reserve Nacka-resevatet in Stockholm, that on a trail run, gave Anna and Andrew the idea of making more music about urban nature. Sara and Nina were invited to join and Tree Oh! was created.

The record

In 2024 we launched the initial EP Our Urban Nature with five songs inspired by London Parks. Now we want to record the rest of the songs from the Our Urban Nature collection and make them part of interactive performances to reconnect people with their local natural world. From the apparently ordinary to world famous places, our songs still to be recorded include:

> The Thames - one thing connects the rival halves of the city, inland and sea, and London to the world. In its waters have flowed life, wealth and suffering.

> Mitcham Common is a song about how nature can startle and surprise you even in unremarkable urban borderlands that many would drive through without a second look.

> Chelsea Physic Garden is inspired by London’s oldest botanical garden, a place for research into the medicinal properties of plants since 1673.

> Kew Gardens is a song in honour of this huge and glorious botanical garden, but also a lament for the fact that too often in cities nature can only be experienced in fenced off areas – like keeping urban nature in plant zoos.

> Tooting Common is one of many commons in London to have survived enclosure and the spread of the concrete, paving and brick that built London. During the covid pandemic its value as green space was rediscovered by a population hungry for open air and nature.

Will you help us make it happen?

We would love your support to complete and develop what we think is an urgent and important project. Any contribution you make will help enormously towards the recording of Our Urban Nature, and to pioneering work on the cultural shift to engage with and celebrate the natural world in towns and cities.

With £12,600 GBP we will be able to complete the album, covering studio costs, mixing, mastering and some of the costs making it possible to engage people and share the music much more widely.

We record our songs at Playing with music studios in Stockholm, http://www.playingwithmusic.se/