Before We Forgot How To Dream

Having overcome severe dyslexia and a finger-mangling run-in with a treehouse, Derry youngster Bridie Monds-Watson emerged to produce this spare, beautiful debut. There’s plentiful ‘soul and ‘folk’–the root of that mysterious name–on acoustic jewels that marry a preternaturally gifted pop ear (expect to sublet your consciousness to the chiming melody of “Sea Creatures” for a good while) with a yearning as gorgeously raw as her growling delivery. “A teenage heart, is an unguided dart,” notes Monds-Watson on the bewitching “B a noBody”. On this evidence, she’s hit the bullseye with her first throw.