Manchester’s Brain Leak find their way to the heart of changing people and evolving relationships on… Moon Eyes
“Raw and honest” – Loud Women
“Gloriously hazy indie anthems” – Get In Her Ears
Brain Leak – Moon Eyes
OUT NOW
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A self-initiated confessional, bringing radical honesty together with teardrop strains of piano, Manchester’s Brain Leak return with their latest single, Moon Eyes – OUT NOW. Gamely teasing out glassy melodies and emotional truths that evoke a distinct melancholic tenderness, replete with bittersweet, tentative longing, singer-songwriter, Tara Gabriella Engelhardt opens her own Pandora’s Box of reflection, realisation and growth with the help of bandmates drawn from Peaness, Orielles, Working Men’s Club and Blanketman.
Coalescing in friendship and artistic sisterhood, Brain Leak’s debut single, Trying, was released in February to evening and daytime support on BBC 6 Music, as well as Radio X and a cascade of critical warmth. Pupating from Mazzy Star-alike nu-riot grrrl distorted strums and drums and fading out Brain Leak’s thrilling, full-band sonics, Moon Eyes allow Gabriella Engelhardt her ‘Lana moment’, spotlighted amidst the song’s cavernous, yet skin-touchingly intimate space. What lies within is a record of hopeless admiration, romantic doubt and the sense of release as truth finally steps in to obstruct confusion.
Gabriella Engelhardt reflects on the single: “Moon Eyes is the acknowledgment of how people, relationships and dynamics evolve and, with some time, the acceptance of those developments. Sometimes relationships evolve in completely unforeseen ways, leaving you in unfamiliar territory, which is scary if you’re a sensitive person like I am who struggles with change. This song is me coming to terms with that change.”
An extended reach into matters of the mind and heart, clocking in at over four minutes, with unhurried sense of urgent expression, backed minimally by strains of guitar and an ethereal, warped wash of strings, Moon Eyes is a ‘reply’ to a song originally performed by Gabriella Engelhardt’s other, hotly-tipped band, Adjustments. An opening half of documentarian, fly-on-the-wall reflection on real encounters with forlorn love gives way to a second half of almost too brutal truths as the songwriter was forced to reckon with herself, her weaknesses and her enduring, resultant strengths.
Moon Eyes was recorded and produced with a debt of creative gratitude owed to Russell from Lancastrian electro-post-punk project, Material Goods.
Performing with Brain Leak over the past six months of extensive UK-wide and occasional international touring have been Orielles drummer, Sidonie Hand-Halford, interchangeable with former Blanketman drummer, Ellie-Rose Elliot, guitarist of Peaness, Jess Branney, and former Working Men’s Club guitarist, Giulia Bonometti. Not only have the band ascended quickly to headline status at key Manchester venues including YES and The Rat and Pigeon, they made their London debut in support of Yaang at The Windmill Brixton in April and hit New York in May for a special loft-gig invitational.
To be the first to know about future Brain Leak releases and live shows, connect with the band online at:
https://www.instagram.com/brainleak__
