Kudos, Bridie Monds-Watson. The Derry teen bowled over Hot Press as soon as she arrived on the scene with an extraordinary voice and songs filled with wisdom beyond on her years, but no one could have foreseen her long-playing bow being such a near-perfect stunner.
Before We Forgot How To Dream arrived on the legendary Rough Trade label in the summer and gathered her much-loved early efforts with newer material. Not that it was a grab-bag – the exquisite production of Tommy McLaughlin gave the whole endeavour a sublime uniformity, adding layers and gravitas to her spell-binding songs.
Her Mercury Prize nod is more than deserved. The story so far:
Having first been spotted by our own Colin Carberry as a 16 year old in September 2012 where he rightly stated that "we could be looking at something very special."
Knowing that Mr Carberry has excellent taste we decided to put her in the spotlight at the start of 2013. Before Christmas, she had caught up with Craig Fitzpatrick in The Workman's Club. She gave us a few beautiful acoustic numbers and had a chat...

SOAK - Explosion from Hot Press on Vimeo.

SOAK - Blood from Hot Press on Vimeo.

SOAK - Trains from Hot Press on Vimeo.

SOAK - Interview With Craig Fitzpatrick from Hot Press on Vimeo.

...Before the conversation continued and things got more in-depth.
Read SOAK's first HP feature, where she talked about how Villagers “look like elves”, her love for dinosaurs and more.
Revisit the interview here
This June, she spoke to Fitzpatrick once again just before the LP was let loose in the world. As sure-footed and captivating an interviewee as she is a performer, she talked about the recording process, rubbing shoulders with Paul Weller, singing prescient calls for love and raging against the British Conservative party.
Read all about it here
Bringing things bang up to date, the singer-songwriter called into the Hot Press Chatroom straight after her Electric Picnic set for another catch-up last month. On the agenda this time?
School expulsion, lyrical inspiration and an extraordinary year.

Not that it was anywhere near over...

Made the Mercury prize shortlist. Life is crazy THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/h3r9ijnMIP

— SOAKASAURUS (@Soakofficial) October 16, 2015