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Dec 20, 2018 By Christopher Roberts SOAK

SOAK (Northern Ireland singer/songwriter Bridie Monds-Watson) recently returned with a new song, “Everybody Loves You,” on Rough Trade (it was one of our Songs of the Week), along with a video for the song. Now she has shared a cover of Chris Rea’s “Driving Home for Christmas,” via a video of her performing the song. Rea’s original came out in 1988 and ends up back on the British singles chart every year. Watch Soak’s version below, followed by a 2008 charity video for the original.

“Everybody Loves You” was her first song in three years, since her acclaimed debut album, 2015’s Before We Forgot How to Dream. Back then she was only 19 years old, now of course she’s older (22) and likely wiser. There’s no word yet on her second album.

In a press release Wilson says that the video “follows SOAK as she navigates through a world of temptation before eventually succumbing and accepting the chaos and love into her life…. The video expands upon themes from the song, and plays upon the idea of ‘rejecting something that deep down you know you want,’ and flows from a straightforward narrative into a visceral, dream-like state, emulating the journey from reticent caterpillar into Technicolor butterfly.”

Monds-Watson had this to say about the song in a previous press release: “‘Everybody Loves You’ is a song about extreme denial. More specifically about my stubborn ability to convince myself I don’t want something that I do and blind my rational thought process. I suppose in this case, as a way of self-protection (and avoiding vulnerability). The lift at the end of the song (‘Everybody wants you, And I do too’) represents the almost comedic/foolish acceptance of my own feelings. A 360 turn of events in which I then so desperately want all that I had rejected and pushed away. A consistent theme of my younger self.”

Read our 2015 interview with SOAK.

SOAK Tour Dates:

01/30 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
02/01 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
02/02 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
02/05 - Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
05/06 - Kendal, UK @ Kendal Library
05/10 - Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
05/11 - Leeds, UK @ The Wardrobe
05/12 - Glasgow, UK @ King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
05/14 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
05/15 - Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy Oxford
05/16 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla
05/17 - London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall
05/19 - Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique - Rotonde
05/20 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
05/22 - Hamburg, Germany @ Prinzebar
05/23 - Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
05/24 - Cologne, Germany @ Artheater
05/28 - Cork, IE @ Live at St Lukes
05/29 - Limerick, IE @ Dolans
05/30 - Dublin, IE @ Button Factory
05/31 - Derry, UK @ The Glassworks

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