2025 was a busy year for Tooth Gore. The one man band from the south west of England released the long awaited ‘For Losers, By Losers’ long player, which made good on a string of digital singles, gained a wealth of positive press from online sources, eventually leading to Kobi Joe embarking on a tour of the Phillipines.

Rounding out a hugely prolific period, ‘Cold Heart, Warm Skin’ has hit streaming services as a digital single. A deep cut from the album, the three minute track, in many ways, plays as the ultimate snapshot of the Tooth Gore sound. It isn’t as punky as the album’s opener ‘Uncomfortable’ or ‘Black Cat’, nor does it tap into the old school doo wop influences present on ‘This Song Is Stolen’, but the three minute workout still manages to wedge many of Kobi Joe’s chief musical interests into a tight arrangement.

Opening with a deep toned guitar and punchy bass drum, there’s immediately a hint of garage rock, and even a nod to early Arctic Monkeys. The introduction of a brighter sounding guitar and busier rhythm shows off more of Kobi Joe’s love of retro pop-rock with a surf rock edge brought to the fore, before a fuller sounding pre-chorus riff wheels out something a little closer to alternative rock from the 90s. Everything is linked effortlessly by a flowing vocal, which has been subjected to a light filtering to give the melody a strange, retro echo, and by the time the melody hits its stride, the number becomes prime Tooth Gore.

The use of broad harmonies on the chorus – along with a few cheeky oohs – brings a broad melody to the hard, jangling backdrop. Those who’ve not yet checked out the Tooth Gore album but might want a quick and easy reference point, there’s something at the heart of the track that sounds like a distant relation of ‘Uno!’ era Green Day crossed with Foxboro Hot Tubs, but with enough extra toughness to allow Tooth Gore to sound different enough to present this as a wholly original work.

There are, arguably, a couple of stronger tracks on ‘For Losers, By Losers’, but as both a stand alone listen and as a number used to draw people towards the album, ‘Cold Heart, Warm Skin’ shares something brilliant – a track that finds the artist in great shape, and perhaps more importantly, with the confidence to move forward to his next recording project.

Watch the video below.