Manchester’s nu-riot grrrl supergroup, Brain Leak, shatter and ‘Put Back Together’ their debut EP

Image courtesy of Maintain Perspective

A desperate plea reshaped into defiance, Brain Leak’s Save Me signals the end of a first, bracing chapter authored by Manchester’s emergent, nu-riot grrrl supergroup, centred around the complex introspections of songwriter, Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt. The single completes the band’s debut Put Back Together EP, a collection of bone-bearing songs written during a volatile stretch of early sobriety, described by the singer-songwriter as “completely dismantling, but also the first time I learned how to rebuild myself with intention.”
 
Completed by a fearless assembly of some of the UK’s most electrifying alternative musicians, Giulia Bonometti (Working Men’s Club), Jess Branney (Peaness), Sidonie Hand-Halford (Orielles) and Ellie-Rose Elliot (Blanketman), the completion of the EP completes a journey set in motion by February’s breakout debut single, Trying.
 
A deceptively delicate depiction of riding rough emotional terrain, Brain Leak’s debut landed with daytime and evening support on BBC 6 Music, rotation on Radio X and the critical attentions of discerning tastemaker media, cementing Brain Leak as one of the most keenly watched new acts of 2025. Releasing the EP with a focus on latest single, Save Me, Engelhardt opens the door into coping, self-revelation and determined growth even wider.
 
The EP’s creation was intentionally fragmented; each track shaped in a different sonic setting by a different producer. “It’s a Frankenstein production in the best way,” Engelhardt explains. “This year I wanted to explore my sound, see how other people work, and figure out what I want for the next body of work.”

Save Me was produced by Henry Wade of Orielles in the band’s shared practice room at Islington Mill and mixed by Russell of electro-post-punk project Material Goods. Whilst the EP leads with an apt final single, the heart of Put Back Together perhaps beats most powerfully in Engelhardt’s creative partnership with Brian Christinzio of BC Camplight, who produced the EP’s closing title track.
 
Known for his ability to tether emotional disquiet to instrumental largesse, Christinzio became both collaborator and emotional anchor, recruiting string players Evelyn Hall and Rachel Nicholas, whose performances give Put Back Together its haunted ache and sense of spiralling release.
 
“They shaped the atmosphere, the tension, the panic and the melancholy. Their strings, and Brian’s piano touches, make the song what it is,” Engelhardt says. “He brought his arrangement expertise, his instinct for drama, and his understanding of me. It all came together in no time.”
 
Across the EP, each track marks a different angle of escape and self-reckoning. Something Skin, produced by Harry Jordan at Bam Bam Studios in Norfolk, grows from Engelhardt’s rudimentary, introductory riff to become an undulating alt-rock beast sculpted collectively as a band. Hide, recorded with Theo Verney at Farm Studios in Brighton, predates the band’s formation, being demoed on GarageBand in seclusion prior to Engelhardt sharing it with Bonometti. It was her band mate’s enthusiasm which ignited a commitment to songwriting that sees Brain Leak born, learning to walk and thriving.

A study in breaking, rebuilding and refusing to disappear, Put Back Together is the sound of an artist choosing survival and a band pushing from relatable vulnerability into explosive, atmospheric terrain.

Brain Leak – Put Back Together EP
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