Speed Date with Irish musician SOAK

The recording artist calls their latest album “emotional, kind of dramatic … very honest”

SOAK, a singer-songwriter hailing from Derry, Northern Ireland, says their third studio album If I Never Know You Like This Again is incredibly candid. “I didn’t really shy away lyrically from what I felt I had to, like, work out or discuss,” SOAK  says. “At times I’m like, ‘Oh, you just said that, now everyone’s going to hear it.’ But it’s also a relief in a way.” The 26-year-old broke onto the music scene with their first album Before We Forgot How to Dream at the young age of 15, but says their music and creative process have evolved dramatically in the decade since. SOAK also talks to Xtra about how discovering Canadian queer folk-pop band Tegan and Sara’s 2007 album, The Con, was pivotal in influencing their sound.

Lito Howse (they/them) is a queer and trans/non-binary identified videographer, editor and producer based in Toronto. They previously worked for the CBC where they wrote TV stories, edited and control room produced for News Network. They also produced videos for CBC Radio and wrote web articles for shows like The Current and As It Happens, among other roles. They speak English.

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