Introducing Interview: Brain Leak

Centered around the complex introspections of Manchester-based Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt (Adjustments, Julia Bardo), Brain Leak are a brand new project bringing together like-minded musicians from the scene, and already creating quite a stir. Enlisting the help of Giulia Bonometti (Working Men’s Club), Jess Branney (Peaness), Sidonie Hand-Halford (Orielles) and Ellie-Rose Elliot (Blanketman), Engelhardt transforms poignant contemplations on life into gloriously hazy indie anthems. Combining a glistening raw emotion with a fizzing gritty energy, debut single ‘Trying‘ is propelled by the delicate celestial power of Engelhardt’s vocals, offering a beautifully resonant reflection on attachment and the challenging emotional experiences that can accompany it. We’re super excited about this new project, and can’t wait to hear more from Engelhardt and co. this year!

To celebrate Brain Leak’s debut single release, we caught up with Tara about how Brain Leak came to be, her main inspirations and writing process, platforming marginalised artists, and more. Have a read below, and make sure you watch the gorgeous new video for the ‘Trying‘ below!

Hi Brain Leak, welcome to Get In Her Ears! How are you doing today?
Hello! I’m really good today, thanks. It’s a very bright and clear winter’s day in Manchester, which makes me happy. I hope you’re doing well!

You’re quite the supergroup with members from The Orielles, Peaness and Adjustments – so, are you able to tell us a little bit about how you all came together to form Brain Leak, and what inspired the new project?
Ahh thank you, that’s kind of you to call us that! I am very lucky that my best friends are also some of the best musicians I know. In January 2024 I showed Giulia one of my songs entitled ‘Hide’ and she loved it. Her excitement about the song and confidence in me was the catalyst that made me take my songwriting more seriously. I was already gigging and writing with Adjustments and had only been playing guitar for a mere year and a half by that point, so my solo stuff wasn’t massively on my radar as something to pursue. In the months that followed, I kept writing. I recorded ‘Trying’, which Giulia helped me to produce and, in the summer, I asked Sid, Jess and Giulia if they would want to play for me and they said yes! We had already recorded bits together for the other songs in the set, so their parts were already taking shape. With a good few rehearsals to learn and tighten the songs, before we knew it, we had our first gig supporting Floodlights at Deaf Institute in November. I then asked Ellie Elliott (Blanketman/Splint) if she would step in as dept drummer and she said yes, and has just nailed the gig we played in Hull. I’m very grateful for how seamless getting this talented group together has been. I’d say the main inspirations for this project came from my desire for connection and self-expression. I picked up the guitar in 2022, with a desperate need for an emotional outlet when I was going through some grief, primarily so that I could incessantly sing and play along to Roy Orbison. I found it incredibly cathartic (who wouldn’t? Roy really knew how to emote). I have always written poems and excerpts, and after becoming more comfortable with basic chords, I naturally began to synthesise my writing with melodies. There is something very powerful about the connection between melody and words, and I have found songwriting to be a radically therapeutic process. Music is so special because it helps you to connect with yourself as well as others. I really enjoy when people come up to me after a gig to talk about one of the songs. It starts a dialogue about things most people don’t generally feel comfortable talking about, even though so many of us have similar experiences. I like that Brain Leak can instigate these conversations.

You’re about to release your debut single ‘Trying’ – I love the way it combines a glistening raw emotion and fizzing gritty energy! What are the main influences behind the track?
Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me that you feel that from it. The song is influenced by the things I learned from intensively looking inward: the messy intertwining of my attachment to substances and my attachment to love; having realisations about my past behaviour and taking responsibility. When I wrote it in Feb 2024, I was six months into my recovery from addiction, in regular therapy and deep diving into YouTube videos about attachment styles, co-dependency and neurosis by a woman named Heidi Priebe (10/10, would recommend). I was connecting dots left, right and centre about where my dependencies originated from. It was overwhelming to be realising so much. It was as if I was being forced to experience all the emotions from my past that I thought I had successfully numbed out when I was still using substances. I was seeing clearly how I was responsible for my choices in life, and I was holding myself accountable. From all this combined, ‘Trying’ was born! 

And are there any specific musicians or artists who particularly inspire your writing?
When I actually write, I don’t have other artists or musicians in mind, I just write whatever comes out, if that makes sense. But in general, I have a few musicians in mind that inspire me a lot. Nilüfer Yanya is a big one. Her catchy, unpredictable melodies, emotional lyrics and incredibly tight instrumentals make her the whole package deal for me. My dream is to support her. I’ve found the songwriting and delivery of Jack Merett from Famous to be incredibly inspiring. I don’t understand how he’s managed to capture such raw feelings in recordings, it’s very special. I sincerely think he’s one of the most talented artists out there. I’m also inspired by the energy of Ought and Cherry Glazerr. Ought for their uplifting and cathartic vibes and Cherry Glazerr for the somehow both chilled and upbeat feeling she gives. I could go on.

How was the song writing process for you, was it quite a different experience from what you’ve been used to in other bands that you’ve been in? 
Yes, it was a very different writing experience. When I was Julia Bardo’s session drummer, I just came up with straightforward parts that would support the song. Then, with Adjustments, usually we are all jamming and when I’m feeling good about what I’m playing on drums, I’ll tune into the guitar sounds the boys are playing and experiment with melodies as we all play, based on whatever suits what they are playing. Then we’ll go over the jams, pick favourite parts, discuss a structure and build from there. This was totally different because every bit of the song from structure to tone is up to me, there’s no one to draw from or bounce off. It was also far more personal content that I was writing about. It was quite a weird process now that I’m reflecting on it! I came up with the bridge first, which doesn’t feel typical. It was after speaking at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting about how unstable I felt, I analogised my instability to the feeling of being on a constant seesaw. I felt compelled to start with that. I didn’t feel like it was a chorus or a verse, so I wrote the chorus and the verses around it. The whole song was also much slower. It was more of an emotional ballad. The more I played it, the more it naturally sped up, but I kept the bridge slow. Then with it recorded roughly, I thought a bit about the drums but mostly figured them out when I took it to be properly recorded with Lewis Johnson-Kellett, who gave some helpful direction. Jess came in and did some cool tremolo guitar bits, Giulia came up with a bass part and the song was finished! It was interesting to be doing it without a band and to be in the driver’s seat with so much creative control, especially as I am still very new to guitar. I’m just glad Manchester is full of amazing musicians who are happy to offer their expertise.

You grew up in Cardiff, but are now based in Manchester – how does the DIY music scene compare in each city? 
I haven’t actually lived in Cardiff since I was 16 so I don’t know much about the DIY music scene. But from what I gather, it’s got a lot going on, with the beloved Moon club and Clwb Ifor Bach still being at the core of things. I really love Manchester for its DIY nature. People here have put so much time and effort into events and spaces that bolster the community. So much of life revolves around music here, from band stuff to DJ nights and everything in between. I’ve been to a fair few DIY parties in the various mills with some amazing DJs. Partisan Collective has been instrumental in the DIY scene in Manchester, creating an exciting but also safe community. People will often have gigs in their practice spaces which has been fun over the years. The arts and music scenes overlap a lot, putting events on together, which is very wholesome. I practice at Islington Mill, which is such a creative hub and lots of collaborating across the arts go down. It’s a very energetic and authentic place to be, especially for music.

You’ve already been playing live with Brain Leak, with a sold-out show at YES in Manchester already under your belt, which is pretty impressive! How was that for you, and were you expecting such an amazing reaction so early on? 
Thank you!! It was quite a mad experience to see the room so full. We had friends we knew were coming so I expected people to be there, and I had played Hot Take with Adjustments the previous year and it was well promoted with a pretty good crowd but that was all I expected. I really felt the energy of the crowd that night, which made it a very fulfilling gig to play. After the show, a couple of people told me they had teared up at one of the songs and I ended up talking in depth with someone about addiction and love etc and that is something I didn’t expect. It was really cool, and I hope that kind of thing continues. Love it when people cry at my songs!! Just kidding.

And what can fans who’ve not yet seen you live expect at your gigs? 
I really like this question. Expect lots of passion and emotion. I tend to feel the songs quite deeply as I sing them and get a bit lost in them. The girls are very tight. With the incredible voices of Giulia and Jess on backing vocals and the trancey drums that both Sid and Ellie nail, I think the set is quite powerful. Expect a front row sonic experience of my diary. Even if you’re at the back.

Generally, when you’re out on tour, or playing shows, are there any particular essentials that you like to take with you to keep you going?
Yes! So: Vocalzones (a must. Jess has a cute tin she keeps them in), camcorder (for dressing room messing around), herbal teas (you never know if a venue will have them), my faux fur coat (I wear it for the first song to feel comfortable and ease into being up on stage), one litre water bottle, I have a worry stone that’s very soft I like to hold when I get nervous. I think that’s it! 

As we’re an organisation with a focus on supporting new and marginalised artists, I just wondered how you feel the industry is for them at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the years in its treatment of female and queer artists?
I have definitely noticed more female and queer artists getting noticed in the last few years, which is definitely good. There are people such as yourself who give such a cool platform for these artists and that genuine encouragement and support also seems more prevalent today. A friend of ours has put on a day festival in Liverpool for a few years called “Bitch Fest”, which is focused on female artists and that’s really cool, so there are people looking out. I think with these things, there are always going to be people boosting marginalised groups up for the right reasons, there will be people putting them forward with ulterior motives and there will be organisations that turn away from the whole thing. It’s hard for me to comment more than that when I haven’t been in the industry for very long and have never dealt with anything corporate that a label comes with.

And are there any other exciting new artists or bands on the Manchester scene that you’d recommend we check out?
Yes! Modema, Lili Holland-Frick, Dove Ellis, Wyatt. I’m drawing a blank after that but I’m sure there are plenty more!

Is there anything else you’d like to add about upcoming plans or particular thoughts you’d like to mention?
I have plans to record one song at the end of Feb and another sometime before summer, but no release plans yet. We have also just been asked to support She Drew The Gun in February at Factory in Manchester, which is very exciting!

Huge thanks to Tara for answering our questions! Watch the beautiful new video for ‘Trying’ below:

Photo Credit: Alicia Fretter

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Five Favourites: Sophie Jamieson

Having received acclaim from the likes of Brooklyn Vegan, The Line Of Best Fit and Under The Radar, London-based artist Sophie Jamieson has now shared her exquisite second album, I still want to share, via Bella Union. Reflecting on themes of love and its many meanings, the album showcases Jamieson’s ability to create stirring celestial soundscapes with an added orchestral splendour. Rippling with the soaring raw emotion of her rich, resonant vocals, alongside an immersive shimmering musicality, it’s a beautifully heartfelt collection.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, following the release of I still want to share, we caught up with Sophie to find out about the five albums that inspired the writing of the new album the most. Read about her five favourites, listen to the album, get tickets to see her live and watch the beautiful new video for ‘I don’t know what to save‘ below.

Anna B Savage – in|FLUX
It’s hard to overstate the impact this album and this artist have had on me. Sometimes you hear a voice or a song that sounds familiar in a bodily way, but that also opens a door into more daring territory. Everything Anna does feels so… physical. Tangible, clutchable. There’s so much life bubbling through this record, so many sounds, such a sense of play, but with direction, earnestness, confidence, heart. It came out just after we’d begun recording. Something about its attitude crept into ideas I brought into the studio. One day we were working on ‘Baby’ – I said to Guy, I want some weird, bending sound here. Something loose – I found myself playing him ‘Crown Shyness’ which has this roar bubbling away through it, unsettling you. Inspired by that we detuned the guitar from note to note with some effects to create a similar sense of elasticity. We actually managed to put some kind of bending note into almost every song. I think a lot of Anna also crept into ‘How do you want to be loved?’ The moments of strangeness and grittiness amongst warmth and rich melody in this record played a big part in what I felt able to want from my own music.

Angel Olsen – Big Time
I’ve hammered this album pretty hard. It’s definitely one of my favourites of all time. I’m finding it hard to pin a finger on what has been most inspirational, because my album was written over four years and recorded over one. I’ve taken in a LOT of music over that time. But looking back, this record sank deep into my consciousness about six months before I went into the studio. The simplicity, the imperfections, the space. It’s epic, and intimate, also light, full of love, and full of tears. Angel sounds like she’s crying most of the time. I think the albums I love and learn from span the full breadth of the human heart and capacity within whatever they are exploring. That means touching upon highs as well as lows, and leaving space for hope. There’s a drum part I find sooooo satisfying and bouncy in ‘All The Good Times’ and I think that might have crept into the drums for ‘I don’t know what to save’. This record set a beautiful example for me that songwriting doesn’t have to reinvent any wheels or say anything other than what is. It also showed me the power of what a voice can do, when you let it come out as raw as this.

Daughter – Stereo Mind Game
A theme is emerging – the albums that came out during recording time couldn’t avoid coming into the studio with me. I’ve been a huge Daughter fan as long as they’ve been going. Elena’s understated vocals and gut-punch lyrics have driven me since my earliest songs. I couldn’t say what exactly fed into my album from this one but I know it’s there. This is a perfect record. I believe Elena worked almost obsessively on it for years, and scrapped some or all of it and started again… Perhaps just knowing that I feel deep love and appreciation for the level of attention to detail, the crafting of energy, push, drive, space. I think Daughter have always tickled the part of me that wants to be overwhelmed by music, and overwhelm a listener myself. If I had to find a detail that inspired me, it would be a part of ‘Dandelion’ where there’s another bendy note (!) which is a guitar in reverse reverb with loads of gain I think, it sounds like a revving engine. I was obsessed with it. I think it fed into a sound in ‘Welcome’ that revs up an octave between the verses. 

Hannah Cohen – Pleasure Boy 
This is the odd one out choice for me. My only one here not released in 2023 (it’s from 2015), Hannah’s 3rd album, Welcome Home is actually in probably my top three albums of all time. Though I wouldn’t quote its influence here as much as this one. I don’t find myself listening to this album much because it feels lonely, and I guess it reminds me of a particularly painful time I was going through when it was released. But I brought this record into the studio as a reference, because there is a spikiness and a fragility about it, as well as a hard kind of strength. It’s a contradictory combination that I guess I recognise in myself. It’s also just full of what feels like unrequited longing. I think it’s stayed with me, quietly, over the years, in my bones somewhere. I’m listening to it now, and it actually hurts. Like when you stick a finger somewhere really tender. I guess that’s what I’d love to do with my music.

Feist – Multitudes 
This was released around halfway through recording, shortly after I broke up with the person who has loved me best in my life, which plays out in ‘Your love is a mirror’ and ‘I’d take you’. This record really made me look at myself. I’m not sure why. There’s a line in ‘Hiding Out In The Open’ which echoed the song I’d already written: “the mirror in another’s eyes / that’ll get you every time / there are a thousand different ways to hide”. I was absolutely grabbed by this song, and the other stripped back ones on the record (‘Redwing’, ‘Love Who We Are Meant To”) in which the arrangement is so intimate and touchable, the recording is so alive. It really raised the stakes for how close you could get to the listener’s ears, and with those uncomfortable truths. I think it fed into “I’d take you”, which I wrote and recorded at home over a weekend that summer. This album really feels like a reckoning with something foundational and elemental. It does that with very little and also a lot, the dynamic range is enormous, and the sense of space is constantly morphing and bewildering. I love that.


Huge thanks to Sophie for sharing her Five Favourites with us! Watch the beautiful video for ‘I don’t know what to save’ below.


I still want to share, the new album from Sophie Jamieson, is out now via Bella Union. To celebrate, catch Sophie live this month – all dates and tickets here.

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INTERVIEW: ALT BLK ERA

Battling their demons and bringing the noise, ALT BLK ERA’s debut album Rave Immortal is a tenacious blend of jagged electronics and racing beats designed to dissolve the pain of their past. Released last week via Earache Records, the record cements the genre-defying sister duo’s status as ones to watch in the alternative music world.

The last time we caught up with Nyrobi (20) and Chaya (17), it was 2023 and they were on the cusp of releasing their debut EP, Freak Show. The five tracks that formed it displayed their vivid personalities and antagonistic spirit – with Nyrobi’s vocals possessing a fiery ‘SOLAR’ energy and Chaya’s voice veering into more mystical ‘LUNAR’ realms. With Rave Immortal, ALT BLK ERA retain their heavy and undefinable sound, but they veer directly into rave territory to exorcise feelings of fear and inadequacy – providing a potent statement of self autonomy in the process.

“I think the concept of it…going from really human emotions – our struggles and our pain and our worries – and being able to transcend that and have it become larger than life, I just think that’s something quite important,” offers Nyrobi, when asked what she’s most proud of about ALT BLK ERA’s debut LP. “It’s important to feel like you can escape reality and that’s what the album does.”

Rave Immortal is largely inspired by Nyrobi coming to terms with living in chronic pain due to a disabling illness that she was diagnosed with during her teens in 2020. It was cathartic for the pair to write the record and to recognise how much they relied on each other as sisters during this time. Nyrobi has only recently been vocal about her experiences of disability online, so what was it that made her feel like she was able to speak out about it this on the record?

“Originally, I chose not to speak about it because I was afraid that people would say ‘don’t book her for this show, she’s disabled, she’s in pain and tired all the time’, or that people would think that we only got the MOBO nomination because it was a sympathy thing,” the vocalist reveals. “So now that we’ve played Download, we’ve played Glastonbury and we’ve headlined a stage at Reading & Leeds, it feels like we’ve done enough to prove that I can do anything that I want to do.”

This defiant spirit is something that has resonated with ALT BLK ERA’s fans. It was important to Nyrobi to use her voice and her platform with the band to highlight the resilience of the disabled community. “My disability doesn’t restrain me in other ways that people might think,” she shares. “My disability, it just came out of nowhere. The doctors are saying that it’s likely to just disappear one day too. Before I announced it, I’d be out and about in town and I’d have my stick or something and people would come up to me and ask if something had happened to my leg, and I’m like ‘oh my goodness, I don’t want to lie’ so now I feel really refreshed that it’s out in the open and I can be myself.

So, I just thought I can be honest on our debut album. I wanted to write about it and I wanted to be a voice in that community. We have so many disabled fans. Before I told anyone about it online, we had someone in a wheelchair come to our show in Manchester. I don’t know what compelled me to tell them [about my disability] but I told them and I thanked them for coming out, because I know how hard it is as a disabled person to leave the house. I just wanted to say that I really appreciated them coming to the show and I shared that with them. They didn’t know how special that was for me, they were probably like ‘why is she talking to me?’”

Nyrobi laughs with the last sentence. The support from both Chaya and the band’s fanbase has motivated her to push past her chronic pain and pursue her dreams of being an artist. We’ve seen this dream materialise in front of us too. We were blown away by ALT BLK ERA’s tenacious spirit when they played live for us at our Get In Her Ears gig night at The Shacklewell Arms in July 2023, supporting Straight Girl. Their riotous energy and powerful stage presence has since led to bookings at some of the UK’s biggest festivals, as well as playing for Radio 1 DJ Alyx Holcombe’s own live music night, MANTRA. Both girls express gratitude for these opportunities and are humbled by the community aspect of both Get In Her Ears and MANTRA.

“Alyx has been one of the few industry people that have supported us,” Nyrobi enthuses. “We’ve experienced so many gatekeepers and people telling us that we’re too young and we’re not ready, but she played ‘Mosh Girl Summer’ on Radio 1 in 2022, when we were 16 and 18 years old. She was supporting us from the first year of our music career. So to play her MANTRA night, we really wanted to make sure it was as big as possible. It was also just really good fun. The crowd was so good and the energy was perfect. You know when good people just bring other good people around them? It was just proper warm and fun without any strings attached.”

For Chaya, one of her favourite things about playing live is getting to perform Rave Immortal track ‘Catch Me If You Can’. “We’ve had that song unreleased for quite a while and I’m so happy we’re releasing it because it’s such a banger,” she enthuses. In terms of favourite tracks, Nyrobi notes that ‘I’m Normally Like This’ is still a big crowd-pleaser, but ‘My Drummer’s Girlfriend’ is a standout track for her because of the “opportunities” it’s given the band, which included a collaboration with American indie rock legends Wheatus.

Frontman Brendan B. Brown saw the girls play live at Download Festival back in 2024 and they connected via social media after they missed an opportunity to talk face-to-face backstage in the press tent. Back then, ALT BLK ERA hadn’t released ‘My Drummer’s Girlfriend’ as a single, but the girls sent it over to Brendan to see what he thought. Before they knew it, Wheatus were flying over from New York to work with the girls on a remix at Spotify Studios.

“Working with Wheatus has just been huge, we learned so much from them,” Nyrobi shares. “We were really honoured to have them travel so far to work with us on our song. They were so respectful. They were so caring and they gave us so much advice. They took it 10/10 seriously and they treated us with so much respect, it was almost surprising. We didn’t expect that. I feel like it’s quite rare to find people that are so genuine and full of love in the music industry, but they actually really cared. They weren’t gate-keeping or anything.”

This ethos of collaboration, equality and respect is something that translates both on and off stage for ALT BLK ERA. The lyrics to their songs center around celebrating your individuality both online and in real life, as they encourage their fans to express themselves in a safe space and speak up if they need support or help, particularly at gigs. ALT BLK ERA are currently on their own UK tour and they’ve set up a Discord channel to keep in contact with their fans. “People make friends in there,” Chaya shares. “We do ‘fit checks and everything, people show us what they’re going to be wearing to shows. We’ve got some ALT BLK ERA jacket patches happening as well!”

For Nyrobi, it’s incredibly important that ALT BLK ERA shows are safe spaces. “We just want to make it really clear that us and our whole team are on your side,” she shares. “We’re not standing for any foolishness. Even if I’m performing and someone looks uncomfortable and they’re trying to signal me, we’re gonna have to stop and find out what’s going on. Because one [bad] experience can really stop someone from going outside, going to gigs and being seen, you know?”

Fuelled by this determination, it looks like ALT BLK ERA are set to dominate more stages and gain even more momentum in 2025, and Nyrobi is keen to keep the ball rolling. “You’ll have to interview us before our second album and see where we are then!” she says – a statement we’ll happily hold both her and Chaya too.

Grab a physical copy of ALT BLK ERA’s debut album Rave Immortal here

ALT BLK ERA UK Tour Dates 2025
Jan 28: Oxford, Truck (In-Store)
Jan 29: Brighton, Resident (In-Store)
Jan 30: Kingston, PRYZM

15 Apr: Manchester, The Deaf Institute
16 Apr: Leeds, The Key Club
18 Apr: Sheffield, Corporation
20 Apr: Birmingham, The Flapper
21 Apr: Southampton, Heartbreakers
23 Apr: London, The Underworld

Follow ALT BLK ERA on bandcamp, Spotify, Tik Tok, X, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
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Photo Credit: Dean Chalkley

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INTERVIEW: Jasmine.4.t

Having just released her exquisite debut album, You Are The Morning, Manchester-based trans artist jasmine.4.t not only featured as one of our own ‘Ones To Watch’ for 2025, but has been receiving tonnes of acclaim over the last few months from publications such as Pitchfork and The Line Of Best Fit, with her latest single ‘Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation’ being featured on BBC 6Music’s A List. With the album released via Phoebe Bridgers’ record label, Saddest Factory, it reflects on both the camaraderie and isolation that can be a part of transfeminine life with a stirring glistening emotion. A heartfelt ode to queer friendship, it sparkles with a truly captivating majesty throughout. Whilst it may still only be January, it’s already a definite contender for album of the year.

After catching Jasmine and her band’s stunningly moving performance at The Old Blue Last a couple of weeks back, we were able to have a chat with her about the album, her inspirations and the challenges facing trans artists in the industry, and society in general. Have a read, make sure you check out the album now, and also please consider donating to the Solidarity Fund she mentions at the end of the interview.

Hi Jasmine! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! How are you doing today?
Hi! Thank you! I am very sleepy after getting up at 3:45am to fly to the Netherlands for some shows, but super excited about all that’s going on with my album coming out and the reception it’s receiving. I’m currently on my way to Groningen with my bandmates Eden and Emily, and we are all buzzing.  

Are you able to tell us a bit about what initially inspired you to start creating music?
My uncle left me his guitar when he sadly died by suicide when I was in year two. My dad got me some chord books and I loved learning Jimi Hendrix as a kid. I heard Elliott Smith’s From A Basement On A Hill when I was a teenager, and I deep-dived into his catalogue – my dad borrowed all his CDs from the library and copied them for me. I did the same thing with Iron & Wine. I always wrote alongside learning other people’s songs, and I played in various grunge and punk bands.

I love the glistening energy and raw emotion of your songs, but who would you consider to be your main musical influences?
Elliott Smith and Iron & Wine as I’ve mentioned are big influences, but I think my main influence is Adrianne Lenker. I love her writing, her voice and, in particular, her guitar playing. I am listening to her Instrumentals album right now, it’s my favourite!

You’ve just released your debut album You Are The Morning, which is super exciting! The album reflects on feelings of queer belonging, love and connection, particularly within the trans community – are you able to tell us a bit more about the themes that run through it and the experiences that inspired it?
You Are The Morning is a message of queer hope and solidarity. The songs were written shortly after I came out to those around me, which didn’t go so well. My marriage ended, I tried to move back in with my parents, and when that failed I was homeless for a period. I left Bristol to stay with friends in Manchester where I found community. I fell in love with trans people and met my chosen family, who gave me the strength I needed to start my transition. You Are The Morning is about queer people’s capacity for solidarity but also for change, how we change ourselves and the world around us to bring a brighter future. 

The album’s being released on Phoebe Bridgers’ record label Saddest Factory Records, which is awesome! How did this come about, and what does it mean to you to have been able to work with someone like Bridgers?
I opened for Lucy Dacus in Bristol on her first Europe tour, and we got on really well. She invited me to be tour support for her second album (Historian) tour in Europe – around when my debut EP came out – and we became close and stayed in touch, sharing demos through lockdown. When I got the demos together for the record, I was considering self-releasing, but Joe Sherrin (MOULD/SLONK/Fenne Lily) suggested I submit them to Phoebe Bridgers for Saddest Factory consideration. I didn’t hear back immediately, so I asked Lucy to play the songs to Phoebe if the moment presented itself. I heard back a few months later from Lucy that she had played the songs to Phoebe in the car, and Phoebe was on the phone to her manager discussing signing me! I couldn’t believe it. I opened for boygenius when they came to the UK, and the next day I signed with Saddest Factory. All three members of the band – Lucy, Phoebe and Julien – produced the record. It was a dream come true for me, I’m such a huge fan of theirs, as a band and as solo artists. I feel so lucky. 

And, to record the album, you travelled over to the US to record at the legendary Sound City Studios! How was this experience for you?
Yeah, it was unreal! We had such a good time. I made this band of entirely trans women in Manchester and the label flew me and two of my bandmates – Eden O’Brien and Phoenix Rousiamanis – out to LA. We recorded over two very intensive weeks in that iconic studio. It was such a healing experience, it felt like the hope I wrote into the album the year before was not in vain, because this was on its way. 

I was lucky enough to catch you and your wonderful band live last week at The Old Blue Last – such a beautifully immersive and moving set, thank you. How do you generally prepare for live shows, and what do you enjoy most about them?
Thank you! It was such a nice crowd and my first time playing at that venue. I had such a good time. Travelling as a band of trans women can be stressful at best and dangerous at worst – so before shows we try to relax and hang out together to get in the mindset to perform. The girls are all unbelievably funny, and we don’t take it too seriously. But we know, should anything happen, we have each others backs. Usually, my chosen daughter Yulia Trot comes on the road with us, and her main job is to keep us all safe. Horrifyingly, she has been wrongly imprisoned for her alleged part in dismantling an Israeli weapons factory, on remand until her trial in a year. It is scary going into this year of intense touring without her, but me and the girls are a family and we take care of each other. Hanging with the girls is definitely the best part of playing live. 

Has there been a particular gig you’ve played over the years that stands out as a highlight?
I think my favourite ever show was when we played in the basement of a community favourite pub in Manchester, The Peer Hat. It was for a night that me and some friends organised for the Just Do The Thing transfem meet-up. It was so awesome to play a night of all transfem artists for a majority transfem audience in a packed sweaty basement. 

And, when you’re out on tour, or playing shows, are there any particular essentials that you like to take with you to keep you going?
I always wear my bracelets from my long-distance partners to remind me of their love and support. I always wear at least one Adrianne Lenker hoodie (I’m wearing two right now). I usually take some time before shows to relax and listen to some Adrianne Lenker also.

As we’re an organisation with a focus on supporting new and marginalised artists, I just wondered how you feel the industry is for them at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the years in its treatment of female and queer artists?
It’s a pretty shit time to be a trans woman in this country. It’s very unsafe; we are constant targets of violence and harassment, besides the common experiences of homelessness and mental health issues caused by continued interaction with systemic transphobia. We have seen the rise of TERFism, a transphobic brand of fascism perpetuated by figures – including JK Rowling – which has led to a huge backslide in trans access to healthcare. This has been compounded by scare tactics in papers – including The Guardian – when reporting about trans healthcare. Recently, Wes Streeting banned the use of life-saving puberty blockers for trans children, when suicide rates for this demographic are extremely high and rising, while our community mourns the highest recorded rate of violent deaths of trans people. This is the backdrop against which we are trying to make our way as artists. I have been lucky enough to have an incredible manager, Jen Long, who has helped keep me safe and I’m surrounded by people I trust. I have a mostly female and largely queer team. But this industry is very male-dominated at all levels, and from my experience pre-signing, trying to navigate it alone, we trans women encounter friction at every turn. Compounded by the everyday shit that trans women have to deal with, it’s no wonder we are so underrepresented in this industry and in society at large. This has intersections with disability rights and racial injustice – those of us who do break through are almost always white and abled. I am disabled (by society’s failure to meet my ME and POTS related needs), though I pass as abled and I think without Phoebe’s seal of approval and without my white and abled-passing privilege, I would still be struggling to get shows. I think a lot of these issues go beyond the struggle for trans women’s equality in the music industry, but it is just societal ills at work and it affects all of us. I think things are definitely improving at a grassroots level, and I definitely feel cared for by the venues I play, but there’s only so much that small venues, indie labels and promoters can do.

And are there any other new artists that you’d recommend we check out at the moment?
My favourite band from Manchester is Ether Mech. They’re fronted by my friend Vivian, a trans woman I look up to and one of the first people I met when I moved to Manchester. I also love Mould, their new stuff is incredible and they’re so good live. I really enjoyed The Pill and Fuzz Lightyear’s sets at the Old Blue Last show also!

Is there anything else you’d like to add about upcoming plans or particular thoughts you’d like to mention?
I’m really looking forward to touring this year but I am feeling worried about doing it without my daughter Yulia. If anyone is able to, please donate to her Solidarity Fund to help us support her in prison, visit her, and help her get back on her feet when she is out. You can donate here.

Huge thanks to Jasmine for answering our questions, and please do consider donating to help Yulia.


You Are The Morning, the debut album from Jasmine.4.t is out now via Saddest Factory Records. Listen / buy now.

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