Sophie Allison, known as Soccer Mommy in the music world, has always been fascinated by mixing beauty and ugliness in her songwriting.
On August 22, Allison met Los Angeles Times acclaimed music critic Mikael Wood at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles for an extensive conversation about how to play this method on her latest studio album, “Sometimes, Forever” before playing a cut-back guitar-group comeback. of songs from the registry.
“Mixing things like love and all these romantic feelings with harsher thoughts, I think that shows in both my words and the way the production went,” Alison said during the conversation. “When I was 17 recording something in my bedroom, I don’t think it used to go that way, but when I started doing albums, I had to play with that more.”
Alison added, “Usually the songwriting process comes in once I’ve basically had all of these ideas rummaging in my head for a long time and kind of going through them over and over again. And then, eventually, there’s this clarity where you can sit down and write an idea, and it all starts something in the flow.”
The main catalyst for taking Allison’s songs from the idea stage to full production was Daniel Lopatin, better known as Oneohtrix Point Never, who produced the new record with her. Lopatin was recently a favorite collaborator of pop star The Weeknd, who meshed well with OPN’s experimental electronic background with his recent alignment with pop-heavy music on “Dawn FM” and “After Hours.” Despite this, blending his style with indie soundtracks for Soccer Mommy’s music wasn’t a huge vocal leap. Speaking of the song “Shotgun,” Allison noted an apparent fondness for how OPN’s synthesizers fit seamlessly into her musical style: “I think the right kind of synthesizer can add a lot of warmth, [synth chords toward the end of ‘Shotgun’] Bringing that poppy warmth over this song that has darker guitar parts—it fuses into this airy lift that I really love.”
The pair recorded most of the album at the Sound Emporium recording studio in Nashville, where Allison grew up and currently resides, and have applied the final touches remotely. While most of the record concept took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, Allison shared her preference for the creative energy of personal studio sessions, laying the foundations for the album’s debut with a full band.
In regards to her Grammy aspirations, Allison cited Kacey Musgraves’ album of the year winning album of the year 2019 for “Golden Hour” as inspiration for the various genres of music that were honored for Best Recording Academy Awards. But she said that just the idea of submitting her own music for consideration seemed like a huge step in her career.
“Even applying for a Grammy the first time was like, ‘Oh my God, I probably won’t even be nominated.’ It sounds like arrival,” Allison said.
After a conversation and a short Q&A from the audience, Allison briefly left the stage and returned – with a bright purple electric guitar in hand – as Soccer Mommy, preparing to perform a range of selections on guitar solos from “Sometimes, Forever”, plus a surprise addition from her year’s record 2020 “Color Theory”.
The group started with Bones’ song, the quiet opening “Sometimes, Forever,” before jumping to “Circle the Drain” from the previous studio album, in honor of a request from the audience. Alison then played “Unholy Affliction,” highlighting some of the new record’s dark, gritty guitar moments, and followed them up in a push style on “Shotgun,” the lead single on the album. The group culminated in an album closer to “Still,” highlighting the complex, personal songwriting that was critically acclaimed in their early career.
The singer-songwriter’s third studio record was released on June 24 via Loma Vista and Concord. The album topped the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart for the week of July 9 after its first full track week.
Allison will take the record for a fall tour across Europe and North America, starting at the end of August in Nottingham, UK, and ending in mid-December in Dallas, Texas.
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