{"title":"Soak","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSinger-songwriter Bridie Monds-Watson, better known as Soak, hails from Derry, Ireland. With her unique blend of folk and indie pop, Soak has captivated audiences worldwide with her soulful vocals and introspective lyrics. Her music resonates with listeners on a deep emotional level, exploring themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. Soak's raw talent and authentic storytelling have earned her critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base. Experience the magic of Soak's music for yourself and let her transport you to a world of heartfelt melodies.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"if-i-never-know-you-like-this-again","title":"If I Never Know You Like This Again","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith their new album, \u003ci\u003eIf I Never Know You Like This Again\u003c\/i\u003e, Soak has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut \u003ci\u003eBefore We Forgot How To Dream\u003c\/i\u003e, and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, \u003ci\u003eGrim Town\u003c\/i\u003e. Having come up through BBC introducing at the tender age of 15 before signing to Rough Trade Records as well as winning the RTE Choice Music Prize, The Northern Irish Music Prize and the youngest ever Mercury Prize nominee, Soak has again and again been described as ‘the voice of a generation.’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShowing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. ”I always want to remember exactly how I felt at a certain moment.” Now, at 25, Soak’s third album \u003ci\u003eIf I Never Know You Like This Again\u003c\/i\u003e, is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls “song-memories”.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorking closely with Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers), with whom Bridie has been collaborating with since the age of 15, and armed with influences from Pavement, to Radiohead to Broken Social Scene, they wrote most of the album together before recording it with the rest of the band in Attica Studios, Donegal. Throughout the album Soak pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge, reflected in the rich and robust musicality of songs like ‘Bleach’, ‘Last July’ and ‘Pretzel’. There’s a constant pulsating beat at the album’s centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 90s coming-of-age film. Bridie’s lyrics move through the songs almost as effortlessly and they sing them, and the songs when read, read like poetry. With this album Bridie is, as the title suggests, freezing time in the pursuit of truth: capturing their life into existence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the world of \u003ci\u003eIf I Never Know You Like This Again\u003c\/i\u003e, a life is lived only because it's remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rough Trade Records","offers":[{"title":"Brown | LP","offer_id":50426489930059,"sku":"1143107","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50426489798987,"sku":"1143106","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50426490093899,"sku":"1143105","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/944568fc-40d5-4d22-aef6-0e44b1ece82c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726810929"},{"product_id":"before-we-forgot-how-to-dream","title":"Before We Forgot How To Dream","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Before We Forgot How to Dream' is the debut album from Soak on Rough Trade. '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\u0026amp;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 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 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rough Trade Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50493337731403,"sku":"385804","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50493339468107,"sku":"385805","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/82f33b9b-dfc0-4044-9fa7-a69db39f44b9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727697020"},{"product_id":"grim-town","title":"Grim Town","description":"\u003cp\u003eSoak returns after 4 years with a new album, bringing with her 4 years worth of growth, introspection and understanding. The result is \u003ci\u003eGrim Town\u003c\/i\u003e, the follow-up to her Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut \u003ci\u003eBefore We Forgot How To Dream,\u003c\/i\u003e which saw her win the prestigious Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, the Northern Irish Music Prize, and the European Border Breaker Award, in addition to being shortlisted for a Q Award.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer astonishingly assured, emotionally mature songwriting was often hailed as wise beyond its years; but, as her new album often asks, when do we ever truly shake off those childlike fears, the imposter-syndrome, the outsider-status? The term ‘to come of age’ lands with so much expectation, but with \u003ci\u003eGrim Town\u003c\/i\u003e, Bridie dissolves all such assuredness with imaginative, ambitious, and cathartic results. It is almost as though the greater soundscape - heavier in places, more pop-focused in others - has given Soak the confidence to put her long overdue introspections in the firing line. It’s beauty and brutality is there from the album open opener, \u003ci\u003eGet Set Go Kid \u003c\/i\u003ewhich traces the train-tracks out of depression (\u003ci\u003e“I’ve got to get out, I can’t live here anymore!”\u003c\/i\u003e) and was as inspired by the audio-visual environmentalism of Pink Floyd’s \u003ci\u003eThe Wall\u003c\/i\u003e as Bridie’s train-obsessed grandad on voiceover duties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2LP - Double Vinyl Set.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2LP+ - Limited Double Vinyl Set with Bonus 7\" featuring \u003ci\u003eIOU\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTalk Of The Town\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCD - Digipack with Booklet.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rough Trade Records","offers":[{"title":"LP | x2","offer_id":50498044461387,"sku":"1054358","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498044068171,"sku":"1054356","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50498044690763,"sku":"1054357","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/15e13a8a-7f65-47b1-9deb-8570a4729b02_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727737881"},{"product_id":"b-a-nobody","title":"B a noBody","description":"\u003cp\u003eB a noBody is her first single for Rough Trade, following a successful first release ‘Blud’ on CHVRCHES label. This gorgeous delicate song was inspired by her older brother who left college with no direction. ‘B a noBody’ was written about people who feel held back in life, or don’t know what their plan is,” comments Bridie. “It’s kind of, ‘if everybody is somebody, then nobody is everybody.’ The result is a stunning emotive track, which gets under the skin forcing repeated listens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rough Trade","offers":[{"title":"7\" - Black","offer_id":57815041212747,"sku":"R4895-2738","price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2000x2000bb_9f961448-a387-4be4-bbaf-e892bcf1c398.jpg?v=1783672632"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_8bdd8965_thumbnail_4096_83e26873-0980-437e-bd46-0edf8e5fa99e.jpg?v=1726810888","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/soak.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}