Though they don't believe either word accurately describes their music, Irish singer/songwriter SOAK says the stage name came from combining "soul" and "folk." Bridie Monds-Watson's breathy, emotionally revealing songs and evocative, often spare performing style are certainly soulful and folk-influenced, but there's just as much indie rock in their musical formula. SOAK released a series of EPs beginning in 2012 before issuing their debut album, Before We Forgot How to Dream, as a teen in 2015. It was nominated for a Mercury Prize. The songwriter grappled with the realities of young adulthood on 2019's Grim Town, then revisited formative experiences on 2022's If I Never Know You Like This Again after embracing a non-binary identity.

SOAK was born Bridie Monds-Watson in Derry, Ireland, in 1996. As a youngster, they took inspiration from their parents' Joni Mitchell, ABBA, and Pink Floyd albums. At 13, Monds-Watson began playing the guitar, and a year later formed a band with some friends. They then adopted the alias SOAK and started playing solo shows, having developed a new sound drawn from a fondness for the 1975 and Foals. With the support of their mother (who drove them to gigs, since they were too young to drive themselves), SOAK began developing a following on the lively Derry music scene. In 2012, the project released its debut EP, Trains, and a second EP, Sea Creatures, soon followed. Chvrches invited SOAK to record an EP for their Goodbye Records label, which issued the resulting Blud in 2014. By year's end, SOAK had signed a deal with Rough Trade, and the BBC had put them on their Sounds of 2015 longlist, an annual year-end tally featuring 15 artists expected to break through in the year to come. In June 2015, SOAK released their debut album, Before We Forgot How to Dream. It reached the Top 20 in Ireland and the Top 40 in the U.K., as well as making an appearance on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in the U.S.

In 2016, SOAK's covers of Bonnie Raitt and Led Zeppelin were issued as the stand-alone single "I Can't Make You Love Me"/"Immigrant Song." After entering their twenties, they returned in 2019 with Grim Town, which examined the broken promises and realities of young adulthood. It peaked at number 66 in their native Ireland.

Monds-Watson announced they were non-binary in 2020, leading to a re-examination of past experiences on SOAK's looser third album, If I Never Know You Like This Again. Recorded with longtime collaborator Tommy McLaughlin (Luke Sital-Singh, Pillow Queens), and their first outing with a full band, it opted for a mid-'90s-inspired sound that embraced electric guitars and effects pedals. ~ Mark Deming & Marcy Donelson, Rovi