“A vivid portrait of teenage deep-thinking: intricate, ambiguous psychodramas” – The Guardian

“SOAK’s sound has snippets of Cat Power and the delicacy of Lykke Li… wellcrafted and uplifting psalms” – Noisey

“Age be damned. Talent shouts louder” – NME

“Understated and beautiful” – Stereogum

Named a One To Watch for 2015 via the BBC Sound Poll among others, SOAK announces details of her forthcoming debut album, ‘Before We Forgot How To Dream’.

Fresh from a run of shows at skateparks nationwide, Bridie Monds-Watson aka SOAK has confirmed a UK & Eire headline tour and early festival slots (SXSW, Great Escape, Primavera) together with debut shows across America and Australia.

‘Before We Forgot How To Dream’ is 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 Derry 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 skatepark and daunting early shows (such as opening Derry’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 & 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.