New York band Girl Skin have recently been holed up in a rental house in Maine recording their sophomore record, having hauled over all their equipment and gotten to work. “It was a really beautiful trip,” says frontman Sid Simons, “and we were also very blessed to be right next to Moosehead Lake so every time we would take a break we’d jump in the water or take a canoe out.”

This idyllic setting proved the idea setting for the band to solidify their sound. Where their debut record, Shade is on the Other Side, proved a bold introduction – recorded in Simons’ bedroom using limited tools and instruments – this new longplay boasts a more honed sound that sees soulful grooves loop around darker, brooding undertones. Cue their newest offering, You’re a Freak, a stirring strung-out ballad that explodes into beautiful fuzz. “This song is a celebration for all of the beautiful freaks and the gorgeous outsiders,” says Simons. “[It’s] probably the oldest on the record, I recorded the stems of the song when I was still a teenager living in my parents’ basement. The female vocal on the song is actually my Mum [laughs].”

The track comes with an accompanying video (premiered here) shot by Sam Centore that sees Girl Skin take over an abandoned gymnasium in the basement of an old church in Brooklyn, NY, turning it into their own private performance space. “It had a very eerie and ghostly feeling,” Simons explains, “The acoustics down there were incredible and we were thinking sometime in the future we’ll put on a DIY show in that space when everything starts opening back up.”

Video credits:
Director/editor: Sam Centore
Producer: Nika De Carlo