Manchester alt-rock outfit Brain Leak have returned with their first new music of 2026, unveiling the fast-burning single Skin Remembers.
The track marks the band’s first release since their December debut EP Put Back Together, and signals a bold new step forward for the four-piece, led by singer-songwriter Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt. Known for pairing raw emotional honesty with unpredictable songcraft, Brain Leak have quickly established themselves as one of Manchester’s most compelling emerging guitar bands.
Tara Gabriella Engelhardt of Brain Leak
Built on a propulsive rhythm and an unrelenting bassline, Skin Remembers captures the dizzying intensity of obsession and infatuation. The track layers scuzzy, chaotic guitar riffs over a driving beat while Engelhardt delivers one of her most commanding vocal performances to date.
Engelhardt explains that the song represents something of a sonic shift for the band: “Skin Remembers is a bit of a sonic change-up from Brain Leak’s previous releases. I started playing around with a Roland T-8 drum machine and it was inspiring me to write more up-beat songs. I like the fact that you can really move to it, but it retains signature Brain Leak motifs like the slightly unpredictable structure and vulnerable storytelling.”
Lyrically, the single explores the obsessive details that come with infatuation. “It’s a mixture of me recounting a night with someone and reflecting on my experience of being infatuated by them,” she adds. “Sometimes it’s as if my rational brain has been kicked out of the driver’s seat and suddenly I’m memorising the tone of their voice, the way they say certain words, the nuances of their facial expressions and every detail of their being.”
The release also continues the collaborative creative process between Engelhardt and her bandmates, bassist Giulia Bonometti (also of Working Men’s Club), guitarist Jess Branney (of Peaness) and drummer Sidonie Hand-Halford from The Orielles. The track was produced in collaboration with Russell of Material Goods.
While earlier Brain Leak material often carried the shadow of alternative icons such as Hole and Mazzy Star, the brighter, more propulsive feel of ‘Skin Remembers’ pushes the band into a territory more aligned with modern heavy-hitters like Wolf Alice, Amyl and the Sniffers and Dream Wife.
Since the release of their debut single Trying last year, Brain Leak have built a reputation for emotionally charged performances across the UK live circuit, even taking their confessional alt-rock overseas for a special loft show in New York.
With ‘Skin Remembers’, the Manchester quartet begin a new chapter that builds on the introspective intensity of their early releases while embracing a sharper, more electrifying sound.
Upcoming UK Live Dates:
MARCH
26th – Manchester – Low Four
MAY
7th – Wrexham – Focus Wales
Hot Milk Bring Fire, Fury & Pure Catharsis To London’s Roundhouse
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