Soccer Mommy
color theory
Indie Rock
I've only had over a month to contemplate, ruminate, and generally bloviate about the new Soccer Mommy album, color theory, (annoyingly not capitalized), and I've decided that, yes, it is the best album I've heard so far this year, 2020: Year of the Byzantine Labyrinth of Endless Doom.
Sophia Regina Allison's fourth (really? fourth?) album is as brilliantly introverted as Clean, but with ten times the polish. color theory is filled with intriguing deviations and head-turning hooks, so much so that you would be forgiven for mistaking Allison for a veteran Liz Phair, or Alanis Morisette, or Sheryl Crow when she wasn't a boring caricature of herself.
Album opener, "bloodstream" is the perfect example: a 90s semi-Brit-pop guitar strum leads us into a world of hazy, double-taped vocals before an expressive front-mixed simple drum kit beat builds to what should be a chorus; but instead of chorus, we get a beautiful tandem of piano and steel guitar that keeps popping its head in to check on us. But before we've settled, the song changes to a Garbage-esque grunge ballad, and just as it's about to explode...yes, back to the first movement. It's a gorgeous maze.
"crawling in my skin" (seriously, what is with all the lower case these days) is Allison's best Sleater-Kinney impression while singing like Alice Glass. The effect is both eerie and awesome, the driving beat covers over the Atlas Sound-inspired repeating guitar plinks in the most subtle--and satisfying--way.
"lucy" (come on, seriously, that's a person's name, it should be capitalized) is a beautiful piece of dream pop, complete with faux-lo-fi, and fuzzy production. It sees the return of "bloodstream"s steel guitar semi-chorus, but this time complete with the vocals to match the very best alternative hits from Lush or Cocteau Twins. I don't want to make a Beach House comparison here but, this is like a heavy "Myth" mixed with The Breeders.
It's no small feat for a 22-year-old to write four albums, much less have two back-to-back dingers out of the park. And yet, here we are, listening to Soccer Mommy's color theory and being dumbfounded. It is my sincerest hope that this singer-songwriter keeps this going for many, many years to come.
Album opener, "bloodstream" is the perfect example: a 90s semi-Brit-pop guitar strum leads us into a world of hazy, double-taped vocals before an expressive front-mixed simple drum kit beat builds to what should be a chorus; but instead of chorus, we get a beautiful tandem of piano and steel guitar that keeps popping its head in to check on us. But before we've settled, the song changes to a Garbage-esque grunge ballad, and just as it's about to explode...yes, back to the first movement. It's a gorgeous maze.
"crawling in my skin" (seriously, what is with all the lower case these days) is Allison's best Sleater-Kinney impression while singing like Alice Glass. The effect is both eerie and awesome, the driving beat covers over the Atlas Sound-inspired repeating guitar plinks in the most subtle--and satisfying--way.
"lucy" (come on, seriously, that's a person's name, it should be capitalized) is a beautiful piece of dream pop, complete with faux-lo-fi, and fuzzy production. It sees the return of "bloodstream"s steel guitar semi-chorus, but this time complete with the vocals to match the very best alternative hits from Lush or Cocteau Twins. I don't want to make a Beach House comparison here but, this is like a heavy "Myth" mixed with The Breeders.
It's no small feat for a 22-year-old to write four albums, much less have two back-to-back dingers out of the park. And yet, here we are, listening to Soccer Mommy's color theory and being dumbfounded. It is my sincerest hope that this singer-songwriter keeps this going for many, many years to come.
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