Soak debut album gets official release

Announcing the release the label described the album as a stunning snapshot of Soak’s formative years growing up in Northern Ireland, touching variously on the themes of isolation, family and what to do with your future.

Already compared with the likes of Laura Marling and Beach House, Bridie has been a rising star in her hometown of Londonderry since the age of 14, when a chance uploading of the ‘Sea Creatures’ demo to the BBC Introducing playlist saw A&R board the next flight over and park up outside the Monds-Watson’s household.

Yet Soak rushed into nothing, instead splitting her time between studies, the local skate-park and daunting early shows (such as opening Londonderry’s tenure as City of Culture hours before a GCSE exam).

Things moved forward last year, when Bridie teamed up with Chvrches for their launch of a singles label, toured with George Ezra and Tegan and Sara, before signing a deal with Rough Trade the same summer most of her friends got their A-Level results.

Produced alongside Tommy from Villagers, her debut album traces Soak’s extraordinary journey to this point, and marks Bridie’s graduation from raw talent to a significant songwriter for the years ahead. It seems also to speak of those more universal joys and fears of adolescence, before we, too, forgot how to dream.