Under the name Soccer Mommy, Nashville singer-songwriter Sophie Allison has built a following with honest, introspective lyrics, a soft croon, and a DIY aesthetic. On 2022’s Sometimes, Forever, she experimented with her production, creating a more polished pop sound with synthesizers and thick arrangements. The new Soccer Mommy album, Evergreen, returns to the rawer feel of her first two albums and often sounds like her early Bandcamp music.
Since releasing that third album, Allison has experienced professional success and significant personal loss. That sense of loss and coping permeates Evergreen. Allison’s voice, soft and often on the verge of breaking up, is vulnerable as she sings of pain and struggle.
That grief shows up immediately in the album opener, “Lost.” The song seems to be in remembrance of someone close to her. “I’ve got a way of keeping her with me where I go,” Allison sings in a delicate voice over the gentle strumming of her acoustic guitar. But even in doing so, that doesn’t change the fact that she has lost her loved one. “Love in a way that don’t make sense; lost in a way that never ends,” she sings.
Though Evergreen’s overall sound is stripped down to the essentials, many songs are fleshed out by a string section performed and arranged by Raven Bush and a flute played by Dave Freeman. Those elements add drama to the confessional nature of the album, bringing more tension to Allison’s honest depictions of mourning.
“I feel you even though you’re gone, and I don’t mind talking to empty halls,” Allison admits on the jangling, mid-tempo “M.” “I don’t mind spending time on a lie, but it’s taking all I have to give.”
Allison’s poetic songwriting doesn’t hide behind cryptic imagery. It’s blunt, in your face, and hits like a gut punch. Listeners can process the sorrowful emotions along with Allison as she strips away the protective layers of her heart.
In “Dreaming of Falling,” Allison sings about trying to hold onto fading memories as they slip through her fingers. “All I have are bits and pieces, fading daily,” she sings. “Half of my life is behind me, and the other has changed somehow.” The song is painfully slow, with only the lingering swirl of a synthesizer breaking the silence between each line. The sluggish tempo and space add to the anguish, as if delivering each line takes Allison considerable effort.
Acoustic ballads like “Changes” and the title track portray Allison’s grief in its rawest state, but there are a few moments where the music adds texture. The programmed electronic percussion, electric guitar licks, and grimy industrial bass groove of “Anchor” make it one of Soccer Mommy’s most interesting compositions. “Driver” is the album’s only upbeat rock song and fits the more optimistic story of a lover who cares for her and “puts up with my moods.”
Soccer Mommy albums usually balance heartbreak, sardonic humor, and otherworldly beauty. Evergreen is Allison’s bleakest album, and though it’s still beautiful, its overwhelming despair makes it an uncomfortable listen. The intimacy of Evergreen invites you into Allison’s anguish so you can wrestle with that discomfort together.
