With moody textures and lyrics that cut deep, ‘Bruised’ is a deep-seated introduction to the sound of Marta Vega.

The London-based, Italian-born artist fuses the raw edge of ‘90s grunge with the emotional pull of modern alt-pop, landing somewhere between Hole’s and the cinematic intensity of Wolf Alice. It’s a sound she calls “lesbian grunge soul” and there’s really no better way to describe the gripping honesty that drives her music.

‘Bruised’, produced by Andrea Tripodi and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Stefan Brown, marries reverb-drenched guitar riff to the soaring bittersweet chorus. A twisted piano-turned-synth haunts the verses, while Vega’s vocals walk the line between delicate and full-throttle.

“Most of the verse vocals were from the original demo,” she reveals. “Most of the verse vocals were done in one take, and we ended up keeping that original recording because it just felt real. That dark, moody synth sound is actually a piano we messed with—pitched it down, reversed it, added some distortion. It gave the whole track this kind of haunted vibe that we loved.”