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Brain Leak’s lead vocalist and songwriter, Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt, was recovering from a broken wrist and a recent relapse when she wrote “Something Skin”. After months of not being able to look after herself, let alone create music, the singer experienced something of a wake-up call. Engelhardt emerges from a shame spiral, spills her guts and gets under your skin in a rock-infused catharsis.
Track two on the Manchester band’s debut EP Put Back Together, “Something Skin” is a bold testament to sobriety against the uncomfortable reality of a body that craves release. “I was feeling trapped in my body and mind to a heightened degree,” Engelhardt tells BEST FIT. “Music has been the ultimate relief from my sobriety struggles… I felt compelled to write [“Something Skin”] as a reminder to myself that I was just going to have to ride out the torment and not give in to escapism.”
“My primary goal is to connect with people,” Engelhardt reflects. “Especially when it comes to addiction and mental health issues, most of what you feel is alone, but I think music connects people in a way that alleviates that feeling. I want to show people it’s a good thing to be vulnerable and open about where you’re at.”
The sonic and lyrical intensity of “Something Skin” rises and falls around the disturbing refrain “Peel me out my skin / I wanna go”. Brain Leak’s name and songwriting are cohesive in their uneasy imagery, along with the self-described “Frankenstein production” of Put Back Together, produced and mixed by Harry Jordan. The EP stitches together sounds and genres into something deliberately uneven, carving out what this emerging band may be.
The song’s “rock noise,” as Engelhardt describes it, was initially inspired by the riff in Fontaines DC’s “Here’s The Thing”. “The girls were a big influence too,” she enthuses – “the girls” being bandmates Giulia Bonometti (Working Men’s Club), Jess Branney (Peaness), Sidonie Hand-Halford (Orielles) and Ellie-Rose Elliot (Blanketman). ”Sid made a reference playlist with only four artists: Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana, The Breeders and Fugazi. It was perfect,” she adds.
Their evolving sound is nestled in the heart of the “wonderfully varied” Manchester music scene, according to Engelhardt: “It comforts me to just nurture whatever it is that’s coming out [of the band] organically. I started out more indie pop but have grown into something I can’t quite figure out.”
“There’s so much good music going on here and sometimes I feel congruent with the tide, and other times I’m like, ‘where the heck am I in all of this? What is my genre when people ask? Indie sleaze/rock I guess?’”, but I’ll just keep doing my own thing and let the listeners judge for themselves because I don’t truly know.”
Brain Leak is looking forward and feeling proud about their next body of work. “It’ll be a minute,” teases Engelhardt, “but I’ve got a couple songs recorded; including one we call “The Interlude”, which is my favourite so far. As for gigs, we’ve got a headline in Halifax on 27th February and a support slot on 3rd March in London at The Shacklewell Arms. It’s going to be a good year; I can feel it!”
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