When it was announced that Bridie Monds-Watson’s SOAK would be playing SXSW this year, we hoped it would be the start of a beautiful relationship between North America and the gifted Irish teenager.
Plus, we knew that with the craziness SXSW week usually brings, chances are we might not cross paths with the singer we listed as one of our 20 acts we hoped to catch down in Austin. And we were right — we missed all of her shows. Which makes us beyond excited to report that Soak will be back in the States this summer for a coastal six-date swing that hit’s Cambridge’s Middle East on July 10.
To celebrate that news and the upcoming June 2 release of Soak’s debut album Before We Forgot How To Dream (Rough Trade), today brings a new video for breakout hit “Blud“, which you can watch below once you memorize all the tour dates and scan this video preview.
Filmed between Derry, London, and her UK tour of skate-parks, the video for “Blud” documents SOAK’s whirlwind start to 2015 (and the go-karting track, mini-golf course and basement house-parties waiting back at home). Lyrically, it’s a tender but timeless snapshot of a relationship in distress: “Blud” was actually written shortly before her parents separated, after Bridie, then a young teenager, had overheard them arguing while laying on her bedroom floor. It’s a striking snapshot of any relationship in distress.
Irish teenager Bridie Monds-Watson sings songs well beyond her years, carried by a voice that flutters and bobs over her acoustic guitar. Taking her stage moniker by combining “folk” and “soul” — hey, what was your badge as a teen? — Monds-Watson feels destined to be a voice with much to say and a figure with many walls to break down.
SOAK US TOUR DATES
July 6 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
July 8 San Francisco, CA Swedish American Hall
July 10 Boston, MA Middle East Upstairs
July 11 Philadelphia, PA TBC
July 12 Washington, DC DC9
July 14 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge