Album Review: Soccer Mommy, Sometimes, Forever

Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Alison has described her third album as her “goth record”. But fans of her vintage indie shouldn’t fret, as she hasn’t reached for the black-eyeliner and laced-up Dr Martens quite yet.

Because, while Sometimes, Forever indeed ripples with performative introspection and is threaded through with an icy hauteur this is, in some ways, her Stranger Things moment. It’s retro with a vengeance, yomping across the decades to tap the teen angst of John Hughes and the ethereal shimmer of the Cocteau Twins.

With all that old-school weirdness, it isn’t massively shocking to discover the LP is produced by Daniel Lopatin, aka electronica experimentalist Oneohtrix Point Never, aka collaborator with The Weeknd on 2020 vapourwave instant classic ‘No Nightmares’.

Yet for all that, much remains unchanged in Nashville-born Alison’s firmament. Here music is, above all, an exercise in weaponised catchiness.

‘Fire In The Driveway’ combines M83-style textures with open-hearted vocals and a gorgeously lilting chorus. The single ‘Bones’, meanwhile, sees her going full Taylor Swift’s Folklore, a descending pastoral melody teamed with powerfully raw lyrics. Not for the first time on this sublime downer of a record, Soccer Mommy shoots – and scores.