Soccer Mommy
Evergreen
Loma Vista
There are few things I enjoy more than a lady singer-songwriter who turns mundane emotional life into a catchy song. Soccer Mommy, Sophie Allison’s nearly decade-old project, is one of the better examples of this unofficial genre. I love to hear a song that captures how important these everyday experiences of life feel, both in the moment and upon reflection. Sophie Allison consistently does that; I always feel her feelings (or my version of her feelings) when I hear her songs. They also get stuck in my head.
Evergreen sees a return to the more stripped-back bedroom pop sound of her 2018 debut, Clean. But this is not the same woman from her debut. This new album comes after a couple more experimental-sounding albums (2020’s Color Theory and 2022’s Always, Forever), as well as a “profound and also very personal loss.” The Sophie Allison we meet in Evergreen is navigating an uneasy transition from emerging adulthood into “real” adulthood and carrying the load of loss.
Sonically, this album sounds nostalgic in a way that is difficult to place. Perhaps it’s personal; this album sounds like something I could have listened to in my college dorm room in the 2000s (in the best way). Allison has always referenced millennium grunge-pop, an easy influence to hear in this album. The crunchy guitar and kick drums on “Driver” sound like they’d be at home in a very cool teen film starring Evan Rachel Wood circa 2005. The sound remains timeless (at least to this aging millennial) as Allison’s songwriting takes centerstage.
We hear her grapple with the inevitability of change, both the desire to keep everything the same and the fear of what it means if nothing changes. In the aptly titled “Changes,” Allison doesn’t want to face an irrevocable change that sees everything fading to “memory in time.” In the titular and final track, she doesn’t want to feel the same or “be that girl/Hiding under all my clothing.”
Other songs explore loss more explicitly and devastatingly. In the opening track, “Lost,” we hear Allison regret questions she never asked and now never can. The song begins quietly, just her voice and an acoustic guitar. By the end, we’re enveloped in an orchestral arrangement that mirrors how time gradually overwhelms us. “M” sees her feeling the presence of someone gone and unable to stop herself from “talking to empty halls.” This album is a poignant meditation on the space in grief and loss where we are stuck in memory. We know it might be time to move to the next stage, but we can’t bring ourselves to leave this one behind.
This album feels like a warm hug after a long cry. The cause of the tears remains, but you feel a little less alone for having listened to it. The songs are tender, vulnerable, and beautifully written. As with every Soccer Mommy album, I’m looking forward to picking it up on vinyl and crying on my floor sometime soon (preferably while it’s raining and I can wear a sweater). This won’t be the loudest or flashiest album of 2024, but it is one that is worth a closer listen.
Soccer Mommy begins a four-month tour in support of Evergreen on January 22, 2025.
