Soccer Mommy, 'Evergreen' Album Review

On Evergreen, Soccer Mommy Stands Strong

Since the project’s inception, Soccer Mommy has found Sophie Allison breathlessly building up, breaking down and reimagining the music that frames her open-hearted indie rock. After striking it big in the late 2010s with her stark, brilliant debut album Clean, Allison spent the next few years pulling fresh ideas into the fold. Ever questioning the limits of her sound, she brought in synthesizers and samplers on 2020’s color theory. Though the “rock act adds in synths” move is oft-mocked, Allison didn’t make a pop pivot, instead using those new sounds as subtle decoration to her already finely-tuned sonic world. She also allowed her songwriting some slack, letting thoughts flow as needed, as on the sprawling “yellow is the color of her eyes.”

2022’s Sometimes, Forever, saw Soccer Mommy push things further and in ways no one could have seen coming, as Allison enlisted Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin as a producer, allowing him to reframe some of her ideas through a more twisted, violet kaleidoscope. While her music had been emotionally affecting before, it had rarely been anything you could call menacing—until she released songs like “Unholy Affliction” and “newdemo.” Allison is among the most influential indie rock musicians working today, but Sometimes, Forever saw her leaning harder into her own; Liz Phair and Portishead’s presences were felt throughout, acting as a guiding hand. Sometimes, Forever also found her musing about the expectations placed on artists at her station. On “Unholy Affliction” she sang “I’m barely a person / Mechanically working,” acknowledging the ever-shrinking window of the attention economy. Still locked into the music industry’s two-year album cycle, 2024 welcomes the return of Allison once again, and as ever, the shape her music takes has been rebuilt from the ground up.

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On Evergreen, Allison chases away the shadows and exhales the angst of Sometimes, Forever. A no-frills record, Evergreen was made to sound as close as possible to the demos each song once was. This time, Allison brought in Ben H. Allen III, and the veteran producer helped execute this vision by playing up the sparsity. Gone are the synths; flutes and subdued string arrangements now take their place so Soccer Mommy can operate in a mode that’s a little more stripped back and refined, but both as steadfast as ever.

Evergreen was written in the wake of a great personal loss, and Allison has stated that these songs are often meant to capture a feeling or a moment. The result is a more amorphous songwriting, as the emotions she tries to get her arms around are complicated ones that don’t lend themselves to easy processing. On the title track, Allison grapples with the passing of time and the permanence of those we’ve lost. As long as she remembers, the one she mourns will remain lush and unbending just as the titular conifer does each winter. The ever-presence of her grief is enumerated on the spellbinding “M,” where she is met by mourning reminders in all her favorite songs and her dreams. The artist who once sang about not wanting to be “your fucking dog” now likens herself to a loyal canine waiting for a lock to click so she may be reunited with the one she’s lost. It’s a song that would be even more devastating if it didn’t move with such upbeat grace.

Such heft could make for a defeating listen were it not for the few moments that Allison lets some sunlight pour in. She is an avid Stardew Valley fan and has streamed herself playing it on a few occasions. As someone who has logged nearly 1,400 hours of the game on Steam myself, “Abigail” is an immediate highlight. A love song to the game’s resident graveyard-stalking goth girl, it’s both a soaring indie-rock jam and a charming nod to something that brings Allison comfort amid life’s harder moments. Similarly, the stormy rocker “Driver” stands out for its powerful guitar parts and Allison’s commanding presence. An ode to her temperamental nature and her partner’s willingness to put up with it, she likens herself to a “five-foot-four engine” and places herself firmly in the driver’s seat. Sophie Allison is no stranger to working in the freedom that driving makes her feel, the excellent “Feel It All The Time” was written for her truck. Nestled between songs like “M” and “Some Sunny Day” that underscore such emotional turbulence in her life, it’s nice to have a reminder that some things remain rock solid.

Eric Bennett is a music critic in Philadelphia with bylines at Pitchfork, Post-Trash and The Alternative. They are also a co-host of Endless Scroll, a weekly podcast covering the intersection of music and internet culture. You can follow them on Twitter @violet_by_hole.

On Evergreen, Soccer Mommy Stands Strong

Written in the wake of a great personal loss, Sophie Allison’s fourth album captures grief through amorphous songwriting and the emotions are complicated ones that don’t lend themselves to easy processing.