Since her start posting home-recorded music on Bandcamp in 2015, Sophie Allison, also known as Soccer Mommy, has blown lo-fi rock out of the bedroom and onto an international stage. Her current tour brings her to play MASS MoCa in North Adams, Mass. on Nov. 5th. Her latest album, “Sometimes, Forever,” slides smoothly into moody synths and lyrical darkness.
I remember listening to “Clean” on repeat when it came out in 2018; the record was my album-to-drive-to, album-to-write-to and, most importantly, my album-to-cry-to. “Sometimes, Forever,” like its predecessor “Color Theory,” is a marked departure from the DIY singer-songwriter feel of Allison’s earlier music. As a collaboration with Daniel Lopatin — the producer of the soundtrack for Uncut Gems — the album blends goth and darkwave with danceable ’80s synths and, as always, Allison’s introspective, melancholy lyrics and tone.
“Working with Dan was amazing… what I really wanted with this record was to be able to push myself into sonic ideas that I love so much in other music,” said Allison. Allison just finished another project this summer — scoring “We Were Three,” a new podcast from Serial Productions and “The New York Times.” Both of these collaborative projects pushed the artist into new musical directions and cemented her step out of the indie, DIY bubble into mainstream music and production on larger works.
Despite the more mature sounds on her most recent album, Allison reflects on how this album in some ways also returns to her childhood roots as a five-year-old writing songs in Nashville. “When I first started writing, I was like five years old, and it was definitely a little country-leaning,” Allison remembered. “I think I’ve definitely come back around to country music now… I think especially some of the alt-country stuff, I can hear that a bit in my voice.” But this album, like her recent scoring work for “We Were Three,” pulls influences from all over and resists singular classification; she cites ambient and classical music, along with shoegaze, new wave and goth, among her many influences.
Based on what I’ve experienced of the classic Smith College music enjoyer — think Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, MUNA, Japanese Breakfast the various subsets of Boy Genius — I’d be surprised if others, like me, hadn’t been blasting Soccer Mommy throughout their most formative years. Allison’s new record resonated deeply with me as a Smithie for reasons beyond musicality. I immediately noticed the reference to Sylvia Plath in the opening lines of “Darkness, Forever” when Allison sings: “Head in the oven / Didn’t sound so crazy / My brain was burnin’ / Hot to the touch.” In our interview, Allison explained her interest in “the idea of burning oneself alive to purge evil.” She’s interested, she says, in fire as a “purifying force.” Darkness and pain are present throughout this album, and yet Allison uses them to push herself further.
“Diving into darkness and evil can be really exciting,” says Allison. And they are; this record uses these areas as a jumping-off point to deeper subject matter. There are moments on songs like “Feel It All The Time” where she transcends this darkness, and yet the album would be incomplete without them.
After reading in a Pitchfork interview that Allison’s a Buffy fan — she’s got a bumper sticker on her Ford pickup truck — I had to chat with her about the show. We both share an affinity for the morally-conflicted, aesthetically ‘bad girl’ character Faith (I dressed as her for Halloween). “I always really feel for Buffy and my girl Faith,” Allison said. “Faith is definitely my favorite character. I always just wanted her to win.”
