Soccer Mommy’s Evergreen is a beautiful return to form, sharing spectacularly honest songwriting at it’s best
Words by Matt Keenan
Photo Credit: Zhamak Fullad
Sophie Allison has been one of my favorite songwriters for as long as I can remember, from Clean to Color Theory to Sometimes, Forever and now Evergreen, Soccer Mommy’s latest LP continues the long standing creative beauty of life through Sophie Allisons eyes.
Songwriting has always been Allison’s way to sort through life and ground herself, so as she crafted this album in the wake of a profound and personal loss, she felt it was important to keep these songs in a raw and relatable, unvarnished and honest form. By outfitting the latest LP with more organic production and placing more of an emphasis on her songwriting, Allison brings the listener to more of an almost “back to the basics theme,” exploring everything you fell in love with about her in the first place, but in a finer and fresher form making you fall in love all over again. With the help of acoustic guitars, lush strings and flutes, Sophie Allison produces nothing overindulgent, and everything real.
One of my favorite songs on the record is one of the earlier singles, “Lost” which I got to be apart of the first audience to hear it live at the Stone Circle Theatre in Ridgewood, Queens. “Lost” is of special personal significance to me as someone who, like many others, has experienced a profound personal loss. To me, the song explores reflecting on the life of a loved one after they’ve passed. You can’t help but wonder, what would they think of me today? What would I say to them if I had one more chance? What would I have done differently if they were still around? “Lost” emphasizes the way people tend to carry around their grief like a scar, even after the mourning “ends,” you never really finish experiencing that, the loss of a loved one is a special kind of emotion because the memory of them will be with you forever. This isn’t to say that grief is all bad, missing someone is ultimately just love in another form after all. The emotions invoked on this track are particularly potent, and I believe summarize the best of what Evergreen has to offer, and even perhaps the very best of Sophie Allison and Soccer Mommy at her core.
The intention behind Evergreen was as Allison says herself, "to feel like you're laying outside, eyes closed, the sun is on you, and you can feel the warmth & flowers & trees,” an appreciation that even in your darkest place a sunny day can wash over you and lift your spirits. Sophie Allison brought together Evergreen as she snuck into her late 20s, that tenuous time where the travails of adulthood suddenly look much closer than the playground of childhood. During the three-year span since finishing Sometimes, Forever and beginning Evergreen, Allison learned loss is not a monolith. Some days are brutal and others are beautiful, as you take what you have gained from someone who is no longer here and try to carry it ahead, a talisman for whatever may come.
You can check out Soccer Mommy’s latest LP and full circle moment of sorts, Evergreen wherever you find your music now and revisit the very thing that made you fall in love with Soccer Mommy in the first place — Allison, writing songs for herself that documented what it was she was going through, just as she’s always done.
