It’s hard to believe that Nashville singer-songwriter Sophie Allison is only 19. With the release of singles “Be Seeing You” and “Last Girl” earlier this year, she went from relative obscurity to overnight success, hitting listeners with all the right feels with her wistful lyrics and lullaby lilt.
Allison who has split her time between Nashville and New York as a student at NYU, has built a fanbase from the DIY community, using Bandcamp to boost her penchant for independent artistry. But Allison isn’t exactly new to music: she’s been releasing tracks for free throughout the past few years. Yet Collection emotes what it’s like to be a young woman trying to navigate feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood.
Collection is longer than an EP and not exactly long enough to warrant an album, but Allison uses the eight lo-fi pop gems to help listeners experience a nostalgic look back at what it was like to experience teenage love, heartbreak and nights that had no end. Soccer Mommy mirrors the melancholic joy of Death Cab For Cutie with the emotive songwriting of Now, Now, reworking some older demos into mournful indie-pop that are introspective, yet intensely relatable.
In her exploration of the adolescent experience, Allison isn’t afraid to go where it hurts. With “Allison,” Soccer Mommy looks longingly at her life as she spends time away from her partner, dreamily watching the days go by. Within the mini-album Soccer Mommy moves from ethereal elation to isolation experienced from being an artist, exploring the gamut of pop by balancing anthemic choruses and bittersweet melodies.
The bare bones guitar paired with Soccer Mommy’s breezy vocals on “3AM at a Party” make you reminisce the times you were 17, spending the night talking with an unrequited love in the middle of the night: “I wish we had chances to talk like this, a little more often / But you were always dealing with your girlfriend’s shit, and I was always feeling broken over it.” From the 90s-tinged folk pop “Out Worn” to the glimmering, candid “Waiting for Cars,” Allison doesn’t shy away from her spectrum of emotions.
Soccer Mommy’s Collection is refreshing look at your past, a tender look at the moments that made you, you. It shows her growing pains, and she’s not ashamed. Whatever comes next, you can be sure Allison will wear her heart on her sleeve.