Even though I’ve been a fan of Soccer Mommy for years now, since color theory dropped in 2020, this is my first time really digging into her work in the form of a review. She’s special to me because she made me open up my musical tastes more with that album and I’ve since gotten into a few more adjacent artists that do similar yet different things. It takes a special artist to really get you into sounds and tones that you typically don’t indulge in.
If I’m being honest – and I always am – it just feels good to sit with Sophie Allison’s soothing voice too. This year has been rough for many reasons and the next few aren’t looking to be much better at all. It’s also the Transgender Day of Remembrance as I type this and as a staunch ally of that community, it’s a very bittersweet day to reflect and look to the future, when the spirited motto of ‘mourn the lost, and fight like hell for the living‘ gets valuable airtime and banishes the doomed vibes.
It’s the kind of bittersweetness that tinges Evergreen, Soccer Mommy‘s newest album brimming with a keen, relatable emotionality. It’s where songs of disparate tones and themes can exist, painting a fuller picture of what a human even is these days. Songs like these have been written for centuries, and yet we still find ways to iterate and enhance via the lived experience and reality we share. Cool, huh? Take “Lost” for instance which starts the album and alludes to the massive loss of someone very dear like a mother or other important woman. The lyrics really capture some thoughts and emotions that some may have a hard time forming in their own head, let alone materializing for others to take in:
‘I’ve got her name
I’ve got her face and all these things
But I don’t know what’s in her dreams
It’s lost to me
…
I’ve got her name
I’ve got her picture in a frame
But I don’t give her anything
And I never did‘
It’s very clear that Allison contends very openly with what’s left behind by people when they leave us and this almost incredulous, stupefying mind state you find yourself in. The regrets, the raw pain of absence, it’s something I’ve been lucky enough to not feel on an immense level like is being intimated here, but I empathize all the same. The mood doubles down with “M” right after too which is more mercurial in the sense that there’s this neck-snapping switching of the truth of having to live with that loss and lying to yourself for any comfort that may be mined for even just a moment. I love the outro as well which represents this sort of fleeting feeling through a flute, like this won’t last – this too shall pass. Two songs in and Evergreen already feels like an exercise in processing grief.
Later, we get “Abigail” which started as a writing exercise for Allison to keep the creative gears turning while lightening the mood, being a wispy love song dedicated to a romanceable, purple-haired lady from the game Stardew Valley. If that sounds weird or cringe on paper, I get it, but the final result is a declarative, saccharine ballad that, whether intended or not, will go off in WLW circles because it has just enough levity and fun without betraying the sincerity on display. It also has a great video animated in the exact style of ConcernedApe‘s cozy farm sim, including a very cute sprite of Allison herself, which is a treat for that particular intersection of fans (judging by the video comments, there’s plenty). One of the gayest songs of the year and I love it.
While a lot of Evergreen feels delicate in nearly every way, there’s something for us fans of Soccer Mommy who originally fell for her crunchier ’90s grunge side like “Driver” which indeed drives with stiffer melodies than we get on other tracks and a stronger guitar presence as Allison appreciates that one person (literally, her partner) who doesn’t just put up with you as you are, but centers you in a way no one else can. It’s intimacy bolstered by one of the catchier hooks on the album (‘Where are we going now?/My head is always in the clouds/I’ll be the driver if you choose/No promises to stay on route‘). Likewise, “Some Sunny Day” has some gazy wobble to it that I really enjoy as it employs what I believe is a big rainy, foggy metaphor for depression, touching on similar things that “circle the drain” did years ago though with more hope. And I must mention “Salt In Wound” which feels like a perfect middle ground between these two modalities – hell yeah.
This is a good time to mention that pretty much all of the imagery and art direction really hits home for me. The video and photo footage (including the cover) was filmed in areas of Wyoming and Colorado that look so familiar to me having seen them myself before. It’s like my own memories being weaponized against me, but it all fits the tone of Evergreen so well even divorced from that. Large, expansive pine tree forests mixing with distant, snow-capped mountain ranges really saddles an enormity on the emotions in Evergreen, but it’s also just raw beauty to mix with those raw emotions, a visual air freshener to remind you of the natural order of things and that there’s still plenty to enjoy once you’re able to process your pain. There’s a palpable road trip vibe to it all too which is greatly appreciated and I’m sure was fun as hell for her and her pals. The eponymous closing track doesn’t see Allison at peace with things, but certainly on her way to some version of that for herself, and I think that’s beautiful too.
Soccer Mommy once again impresses with how she’s able to strip her sound back closer to her debut album Clean, but in doing so also exposes a lot of herself as a person, one that’s getting older and experiencing more than before, for better or worse. I’ve got eight years on Sophie Allison and still it feels like she’s lived a whole different life than I have, because she has. She’s graciously shared that journey with us and with the maturity and growth shown over time, I can’t imagine her not continuing to get better with age. Allison will certainly not be the same person in five, ten, or twenty more years – evergreen in the traditional, literal sense – but the art she’s given us has a shot of becoming that sort of timelessless that the title invokes because it dares to be so real.
Artist photo by Zhamak Fullad
