Irish indie-folk singer SOAK was in the holiday spirit and released a cover to the UK classic holiday song “Driving Home for Christmas,” originally by Chris Rea. SOAK ended up taking the traditional, upbeat song with bells jingling in the background and putting her own rendition on it, by slowing it down to an acoustic session with raw, breathy vocals.
This holiday song originally came out in 1988, and since then, the track has found itself climbing up the British singles chart every year. The inspiration for the song came after Rea and his wife were stuck in heavy traffic, with the snow pilling the streets. He thought the other drivers looked miserable because they all wanted to get home for Christmas, so he wrote and sang some lyrics while in the car. He intended the song to be a sort of carol, but a car version.
SOAk has recently been climbing up the charts towards the last stretch of this year with releasing a new track called “Everybody Loves You” during mid-October. The song was released under Rough Trade Records and was the first new material she put out since her 2015 critically-acclaimed debut album Before We Forget How To Dream. A song that focused on extreme denial and self-protection.
SOAK is anticipating on releasing new music in the upcoming year, specifically the release of a second album. Until then, listen to her cover of “Driving Home for Christmas” below.