LIVE REVIEW: VerseChorusVerse & SOAK

The Workman's Club was the venue for something of a Northern invasion last night as VerseChorusVerse, and 16 year-old Derry singing sensation SOAK, descended on the capital for an intimate acoustic session.

Up first was SOAK, aka Bridie Monds Watson, whose distinctive style and accomplished songwriting have seen her very much in the media spotlight over the last couple of months; she's just back from Other Voices in Dingle, and supported Heathers in Dublin's Pepper Canister on Tuesday. Bridie was charming throughout, and casually chatted away between songs, telling us how she's been away from home for 30 days now, and is starting to feel a bit like Justin Bieber, albeit a really gifted acoustic version.

The Derry teenager displayed all the talents that have her earmarked as one to watch for 2013, and held the audience in a trance with flawless guitar playing and Hannigan-esque delivery on songs like the adorable 'Sea Creatures', 'Blood' and 'Trains'.

VerseChorusVerse, aka Tony Wright, took to the stage soon after. Now turned singer/songwriter, Tony Wright was previously a founding member of Belfast-based rock group ASIWYFA, until deciding to fly solo back in September 2011. He's been busy recording his debut album with producer Iain Archer in London of late, and treated the small but attentive crowd to several tracks from the album including 'Everybody Else', 'Common Prayer' (which he tells us was recorded after drinking three quarters of a bottle of whiskey) and 'Big Blue Van'. Wright also played a rousing cover of 'Sixteen Tons', first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis. Wrights solo acoustic storytelling style is a far cry from the fiercely energetic and instrumental nature of his former band.