Emotionally stripped and gamely accepting the stark risk of vulnerability, Manchester’s nu-riot grrrl newcomers, Brain Leak reveals the first harvest of deeply personal diary entry songwriting and recording sessions with the open-hearted release of ‘Trying.’ Centred on the complex introspections of singer-songwriter, Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt, the band’s four-piece live make-up expands to become part of Peaness, Orielles and Working Men’s Club’s family tree.

A Cardiff-raised French/US national, making home in amidst the roaring weekends and disappearing, Victorian industrial relics of Manchester, Engelhardt’s growth into a semi-solo persona parallels her deeper and more profound personal realisations. Fronting up to unhealthy attachments, ‘Trying’ reveals itself as a generous retelling of the blind alleys and sharp teeth connected with giving up to infatuation and overwhelming personal attachments.

Recalling the hazier, heart-on-sleeve moments of powerhouse guitar expressionists, Hole or Mazzy Star, Engelhardt, also a member of tipped trio, Adjustments, welcomes Orielles drummer, Sidonie Hand-Halford to the fold, alongside former Blanketman drummer, Ellie-Rose Elliot, initiating shifts to meet overlapping touring and recording commitments. Peaness guitarist, Jess Branney, and former Working Mens Club guitarist, Giulia Bonometti complete the line-up to form an indomitable, all-female Break Leak line-up.

Engelhardt says: “’Trying’is a song about attachment and the extreme emotions that can come along with it. I feel things very deeply and the song instantly expresses that I don’t just feel a standard emotion, I tend to feel the amplified version of it.

“I remember writing the song almost in one go after a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, where I’d talked about the feeling of being on a seesaw. I didn’t know how to just stay in the middle, didn’t have a clue what balance felt like, without a crutch. Challenging emotional situations without any kind of crutch was very unnerving and felt completely alien.”