VERA – Skinbag (2025)
In our interview with VERA discussing their single ‘Take It All Off’, the band shared, “we are almost unhealthily obsessed with music, and we each spend most of our lives thinking about tunes…” – but isn’t that what you want from a band? Embracing the passionate love for music within themselves, Sarah Toner (vocals), Matt Holland (guitar and keys), David Dalzell (bass), and Darragh Tibbs (drums) draw together their diverse influences, styles and experiences in a mad punch of all-consumingly fantastic sound. The latest addition to VERA’s discography is the single ‘Skinbag’.
Following the well-received single ‘Take It All Off’, ‘Skinbag’ is a rush of grunge with alternative rock hitting you between the eyes with gritty rawness. Produced by Declan Legge, the track is…well, it’s entirely barebones, stripped, standing proud with hands on your hips, fascination bound by a rugged rock ribbon. Yet, as much as there is a roughness to the single, Legge sprinkles magical production glitter, making ‘Skinbag’ both sophisticated and stark in its urgent vulnerability.
Despite the individuality of each instrument, there is a harmonic weaving of soaring guitar, a bold bass, and dynamic drums. It’s the sweet warmth of a brandy slipping down your gullet with Toner’s vocals being the refreshing tinge to the sonic drink. Yet, as much as there is soothing and rhythm in ‘Skinbag’, a harsh tequila follows the brandy snatching you from comfortable solace into “oh, damn that burns” territory.
Melodically, ‘Skinbag’ is that sonic drink that you love (even if it doesn’t feel that way in the morning); however, the core of the track goes further than a sweet flavour on a night out – it delves into the complexities of inner turmoil, fragility, and the complexities of, well, life. VERA explain:
“’Skinbag’ is a raw anthem about self-destruction, the frailty of the human experience and the intoxicating pull to places and people that will chew you up and spit you out… Pulsing with a mechanical drive, ‘Skinbag’ is a desperate plea for connection wrapped in self-deprecating humour. It’s dark and restless. This is one for the bruised and the bitter.”
Find out more about VERA on their Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
Discover more alternative rock music on The Other Side Reviews Alternative Rock playlist:
