After releasing their second Ireland-charting album,
Grim Town, in 2019,
SOAK's Bridie Monds-Watson let it be known publicly that they were non-binary. This realization -- and accompanying relief -- not only informs the looser musical demeanor of their third album but also its subject matter, which finds the songwriter revisiting formative life experiences through a sharper lens. Recorded with longtime collaborator
Tommy McLaughlin,
If I Never Know You Like This Again notably trades
SOAK's early career minimalism for a mid-'90s-inspired sound replete with electric guitars and effects pedals. It's the project's first album with a full band. The approach is introduced on first track "purgatory" when the voice-and-guitar intro breaks open into a jaunty rock arrangement. Lyrically, the song grapples with identity and the notion of a life well-lived, with lines like "Did I ever find out if my name was correct/Or did I just get used to it?" and "I used to wish I was someone else/But I could never fully commit/So I guess it's just me and me/And the world in between." Monds-Watson continues to gain perspective across indie rockers like the gritty, siren-fortified "last july" and hazier "red-eye," though the bulk of the album resides in a bittersweet, midtempo region while remaining amplified. Among those tracks, "baby, you're full of shit," relies on harmonics and delay for its jazzier texture while lyrics take a hypocrite to task. Elsewhere, "bleach" highlights the persistent brittle qualities of the singer's idiosyncratic vocal delivery at volumes both low and high, while the mostly stripped-down closer, "swear jar," incorporates a choir that helps amplify the question: "Where have I been all my life?" While frequently poignant,
If I Never Know You Like This Again feels like a post-catharsis moment of hanging out, talking into the late hours, and making music with friends. ~ Marcy Donelson