Soccer Mommy is an artist constantly wanting to evolve. In under five years, she’s metamorphosed from a lo-fi bedroom pop artist to a subtly shoegazey indie rock star with a sound as big as her emotions.
In a manner that’s seemingly true to herself, she carries on striding down an ambitious path on album three, fleshing out her sonic palette further with influences from new wave and the synthier side of ‘80s gothic rock in tandem with producer Daniel Lopatin, better known as the avant-garde electronica musician Oneohtrix Point Never. Given the wattage of this creative pairing there’s no shortage of ideas here, but a few aren’t quite carried off as well as they could be.
The singer-songwriter, real name Sophie Allison, opens the door on ‘Sometimes, Forever’ with a taste of the familiar.
Opener Bones neatly marries acoustic and electric sounds for an intimate, almost meek sound, but it becomes something truly lovely in its back half when it builds towards an epic conclusion before shrinking quietly.
The swirling, big-hearted shoegaze of With U takes the success of this delicate-to-grandiose approach and runs with it, and a little later, Shotgun contrasts a subtly groovy guitar line in its verses with an atmospheric chorus boasting a sugar rush of a melody. It’s one of the strongest examples of her experimentation here, and generally across ‘Sometimes Forever’, when Soccer Mommy gets it right, she really gets it right.
However, she doesn’t get it right all the time. Unholy Affliction, arguably the record’s most left field track, is out to create an atmosphere of moody murkiness with its juddering electronics and stuttering drums, but it feels melodramatic, and as the record’s biggest musical outlier, it becomes confusing.
Elsewhere, newdemo seems unsure of where it’s going, shifting from gentle acoustic verses to a watery, synthy chorus and inducing whiplash in the process. The ambition is laudable, but the further she travels from her usual remit, the greater the dip in quality. Even so, there’s still enough here to make ‘Sometimes, Forever’ a worthwhile listen.
Soccer Mommy Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed August 31 2022 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Thu September 01 2022 - BRIGHTON Chalk
Sat September 03 2022 - BRISTOL Bristol Trinity
Tue September 20 2022 - MANCHESTER O2 Ritz
Wed September 21 2022 - CARDIFF Tramshed
Thu September 22 2022 - LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
Fri September 23 2022 - BIRMINGHAM Castle and Falcon
Sat September 24 2022 - GLASGOW Queen Margaret Union
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