Foto-© Sam Hiscox

SOAK hatte zuletzt schon mit der Single last july das neue Album If I Never Know You Like This Again für den 20. Mai via Rough Trade Records angekündigt – nun folgt der nächste Vorbote purgatory – über den Song sagt Bridie Monds-Watson: “purgatory is about the weight of time and the perpetual fear of reaching the end of your life, unsatisfied with how you’d spent it. The song came out of a slump phase, I wasn’t really a fan of myself and honestly just felt rather lost. In ways that felt like it’s own purgatory. I was trying to figure out how to make myself feel better, become a ‘better version’ of myself. So I guess whilst this song is about panic, it’s equally about the pursuit of change.”

Beim Schreibprozess stand Bridie wie in den letzten Jahren zumeist der kreative Partner Tommy McLaughlin zur Seite, während die beiden Indie-Rock-Bands wie Broken Social Scene, Pavement oder den Radiohead Klassiker The Bends hörten. Dann kamen erstmals alle Mitglieder der SOAK-Live-Band zu den Aufnahmen in den Attica Studios in Donegal hinzu – nach all der Zeit in einsamer Isolation, hört man die Euphorie, die sich aufgrund des Zusammentreffens im Studio breit machte, in jedem Song. “This record is the most accurate picture of me. I felt no pressure at all, it was almost like I was ranting as I was writing,” sagt Bridie. „When I was looking to the past, it was as though I had a big lottery ball of all my recent memories and I would just randomly select which one I wanted to unpack. It helped me to process my past.”