SOAK

SOAK was the nom de tune of Irish singer-songwriter Bridie Monds-Watson, who rose to prominence throughout the UK with her stripped down, emotional brand of songwriting, which combined the bombastic emotion of soul/r&b and the quiet tenderness of folk. Born on May 2, 1996 in Derry, Northern Ireland, Monds-Watson began writing and performing music at the age of 17, taking on the name SOAK, which is a portmanteau of "soul" and "folk," her two major influences. The following year, in 2014, she was signed to legendary indie label Rough Trade, and made the long list on the BBC Sound of 2015 poll. Monds-Watson's first album as SOAK, Before We Forgot How to Dream (2015), was released on May 29, 2015, a few weeks after her eighteenth birthday. The album received mostly positive reviews, scoring a nomination for the illustrious Mercury Prize that year, and winning the Irish Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year. Monds-Watson spent the next few years on tour, releasing a few covers as singles, including "Digital Witness" by St. Vincent as a standalone A-side, and "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt as an A-side, with "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin as a B-side. She also contributed the original song "Country Air" to the soundtrack of the animated series "Moominvalley" (Sky One, 2019-). On April 26, 2019, Monds-Watson released her second album under the SOAK moniker, Grim Town (2019).