Evergreen - Soccer Mommy

By: Sophie Coory

Evergreen is an album that begs to be experienced as much as it is to be understood. Soccer Mommy returns to the barebones acoustic sound that first made her stand out, but with more texture both lyrically and sonically. The result is an album that lingers – quiet, personal, at times tormenting – inviting us to sit with both its grief and beauty at once. 

Soccer Mommy, the musical project of Sophie Allison, began in Nashville out of her bedroom in the summer of 2015. From these early days of posting home-recorded tracks on Bandcamp, Allison quickly rose to prominence with a string of acclaimed releases that showcased her ability to evolve across a range of sonic landscapes. Now, this forth album marks her return to the intimacy of these roots, while expanding on the lush production and ethereal sound that has come to define Allison’s work. 

The opening track ‘Lost’ introduces the album's main preoccupation: disillusionment in the face of loss. Gentle acoustic strumming slowly builds up to an ethereal chorus as Allison sings, “I’ve got her face and all these things / but I don’t know what’s in her dreams / it’s lost to me.” Remorse plagues these lyrics. On previous albums, Allison sings candidly about her mother’s battle with cancer, and Evergreen is no different. In ‘Lost’, the chorus begins with “Lost in a way that never ends,” and evolves into a refrain filled with Sisyphean despair. This sense of perpetual longing is carried throughout the album, each track flowing continuously onto the next. 

Tracks like ‘M’ delve deeper into Allison’s internal landscape, beginning with lines, “I feel you even though you’re gone / And I don’t mind talking to empty halls.” The track is lyrically vivid in its portrayal of grief and isolation. There is a sense of unending sorrow, a sentiment that builds up throughout the album’s brilliant sequencing. Evergreen is not just an album about grief, but the experience of life in tandem with it. In ‘Driver’, Allison embraces a shoegaze-inspired sound, drawing on influences from bands such as my bloody valentine. She uses the metaphor of driving to capture the experience of a romantic relationship – joyful, freeing, but also plagued with challenges. ‘Abigail’ is upbeat and fun: opening with rapid drums, it is an ode to a character in a video game who captivates Allison for her purple hair. The track is a reminder of her capacity for lightheartedness, as well as a nostalgic harkening back to simpler times which contrasts the rest of the album’s heaviness.

Listening to this album felt like a runner’s high. It is a heady mix of euphoria and exhaustion, soaring ethereal moments followed by languid melancholy. Labelling it as a whole is difficult. Evergreen is not simply a record about grief; it is a layered exploration of what it means to live, feel, and continue moving forward in spite of earth-shattering loss.