SOAK is 18-year-old Bridie Monds-Watson, with similar sounds ranging from Laura Marling to Beach House for her textured tales of adolescence, family and friendship. She’s been performing in her home of Derry in Northern Ireland since the age of 14, where she’d split her time between studying, the local skate-park, and her songwriting career.

“They (Rough Trade Records)  just felt like the perfect people to work with, and their back catalog is incredible,” she’s said of the label”. After signing, the teenager cut short the customary celebrations to indulge her other passion, skateboarding with her friends. Monds-Watson is currently recording her debut album for an early 2015 release; starting with single “B a nobody.”

“B a noBody” follows her “Blud”, which was released on CHVRCHES’ singles imprint. CHVRCHES have widely championed SOAK, not only releasing her single, but remixing it and inviting her to open several shows. In addition to summer festival slots at Glastonbury, Latitude and Electric Picnic, SOAK will be playing in the UK in November, and possibly North America as well.

Multi-instrumentalist Monds-Watson has fleshed out what was originally an acoustic ballad with a shimmering wall of guitars, drums and piano, with lyrics directly inspired by her elder brother, who left university in a crisis over what to do with his life. “‘B a noBody” was written about people who feel held back in life, or don’t know what their plan is,” she explains. “It’s kind of, ‘if everybody is somebody, then nobody is everybody.”

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