Soccer Mommy - Skin

Music 4 years ago

Soccer Mommy - Skin

Soccer Mommy Clean is a breath of fresh air that will also knock the wind out of you.

Nashville singer-songwriter Sophie Allison was far from the only former home-recorder making bittersweet indie pop,

but she did it her own way, and with impressive craft. Released when Allison was 20,

these endlessly replayable songs have the prickly slouch of ’90s indie rock, but with wide-eyed vulnerability and bright melodies in place of ironic distance; the sharp eyes and conversational delivery of vintage Taylor Swift,

but with more of real life’s mess. It’s tempting to dwell on just the first three tracks: the relationship dysfunction of dreamy ballad “Still Clean,” the vicarious imperturbability of swirling anthem “Cool,” and, especially,

the damn-she-just-did-that Stooges reversal “Your Dog.”

But the rest is also revelatory; the subdued finale “Wildflowers,” where Allison intones that she “found

God on Sunday morning, layin’ next to you,” is a sigh of relief that leaves you gasping for more.