EP Review: Brain Leak – Put Back Together

Brain Leak’s Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt has described their EP as “a series of confessional songs, written during my most challenging moments of early sobriety.”

And while that does expose the listener to some very soul-bearing moments, especially during the opening track Save Me, as a whole Put Back Together is ultimately uplifting in how its four songs give that candour a positive edge.

Echoes of riot grrrl are present throughout, but on Hide especially, a darkly euphoric take on post-punk makes itself known. That initial jaggedness is added to and soothed by the increasing complexity and internal comfort of the songs, from the first few notes of Save Me to the fade of the title track – and last song of the EP – Put Back Together, whose mix of opaque baroque with post-punk clocks in at over six minutes.

That process ties in with what Engelhardt states she experienced while writing and recording the EP: “a complete dismantling, but also the first time I learned how to rebuild myself with intention.”

Working with Engelhardt on Put Back Together were Giulia Bonometti (Working Men’s Club), Jess Branney (Peaness), Sidonie Hand-Halford (Orielles), and Ellie-Rose Elliot (Blanketman), and with a cast list like that, it shouldn’t surprise the listener that the risks taken with song structure and genre conventions come off every time.

The EP found its form throughout 2025, as Engelhardt redefined herself personally and musically, but it also serves as a record of some of the UK’s most exciting and inventive musicians coming together to create something truly unique, a time capsule for an artist during a time of turmoil and change.

Header photo by Giulia Bonnometti