Possibly the most unlikely collaboration of the year, Soccer Mommy and Oneohtrix Point Never has a creative synthesis showcased in 'Sometimes, Forever'. It's a step forward from Soccer Mommy's plaintive approach towards indie rock, where she now slips through the crowing noise and fuchsian haze of the production really well. The edges can be sloppy at spots, but there's no denying just how both Sophie Allison and Daniel Lopatin has put more excitement than disappointment in this release.
Three albums in, and yet Soccer Mommy’s spiral of love-ridden and mentally numbed tones has found its right atmosphere in ‘Sometimes, Forever’. Her past collection of projects up to her debut record explored diary-written love songs, filled with envy and doubts in the relationships as Sophie Allison’s plaintive bedroom instrumentation along with her starry-eyed vocals make for a rather tepid, but decent display of well-written, well-produced, and well-performed set of projects that does not exactly stick out from the rest of her peers during that era of indie pop and bedroom pop in the 2010s. That diary-like songwriting and plain compositions soon washed away, as she starts bringing more ambition to her indie pop aesthetic, dialing down more on dream pop with blurry production winks with her sophomore record in 2020. That, alongside her songwriting, shifted towards darker, and somehow nihilistic displays of her moods that spiral down to emptiness, numbness, fear, insecurities, and depression. It’s certainly a much more interesting affair of sounds and styles, even if that simplicity in the color-based metaphors does not push things further and the soundscape that she is laying down feels like a transition to something much more experimental, where with the right producer she can finally put her weary-eyed vocals and conceptual songwriting to the fullest.
The out of nowhere collaboration with Daniel Lopatin’s production style on Soccer Mommy’s 3rd record certainly reflects all of that. ‘Sometimes, Forever’ is the record that makes a satisfying synchronous combination of Daniel Lopatin’s weirder experimental production style and Soccer Mommy’s intriguing songwriting style and plaintive vocal fronts, allowing the display of emotions to feel more spiky and colorful. It’s a collaboration that felt surprising at first given Oneohtrix Point Never’s production work, but this record shows that it’s a collaboration that allows for creative accents and interesting soundscapes that Soccer Mommy clearly belongs in just fine.
There is a refreshing happiness that starts out the record, where the relationship that Soccer Mommy is in feels much more joyous and hopeful. Even despite the self-insecurities displayed on ‘Bones’, there is a sense of yearning for Soccer Mommy is trying to improve upon for her partner. An opener that pushes through with gleaming guitar passages, crisp drum patterns, and a heartfelt emotionality in the melodies. ‘With U’ comes next, opening up all sense of immersive depth from the blurry synth atmospherics and simmering drum and guitar grooves. That immersive depth makes sense for a song about finding the smallest, yet grand qualities of Soccer Mommy’s partner, where even if staying with him is all that she can do, it still brings her a sense of joy nonetheless. And the wholesome sense of mutual acceptance in ‘Shotgun’ is a massive standout in the record, with all the throttling percussion and guitar melodies that reloads to a blast of energy going on the chorus of the song.
However, the darker aspects that she dips on her sophomore record are also here, more exhausted and empty than downright heavy. ‘Don’t Ask Me’ accelerates all out with the rapid percussive patterns that play out with the gleaming guitar melodies, accentuating the loss of whatever motivation Soccer Mommy has as she lets things be in her way. The doubtful reflections extend further in ‘Fire In The Driveway’, with all the dry guitar strummings that are then accompanied by echoing distortions in the background. It’s a song whose details are both rather destructive and doubtful, all focused on how Soccer Mommy doesn’t deserve to be in this relationship she’s in as details of graphic imagery emphasizes that sense of burnout. ‘Feel It All The Time’ is a self-explanatory track describing the sense of emptiness as Soccer Mommy tries to cover out all the noise and the darkness, even if she feels it all despite all the distances she has covered. The track brings along a misty soundscape amidst that numbed expressions, with the stomping drum patterns and clamoring guitar leads that make an oddly relaxed state of mind. Ending the record in its most dour stasis is ‘Still’, where that numbing emptiness makes her less of a person and more of a hollow shell of somebody else as she tries to fix herself together but still has those impulsive thoughts in her mind. The quaint acoustic guitar strums and blurry electric guitar swashes around, putting a stop to the record with a noisy fade out.
Additionally, Soccer Mommy takes advantage of Daniel Lopatin’s production blemishes to accentuate the best of her writing which brings more conceptual meters. The rumbling distorted growls and crushing percussive tempos on ‘Unholy Affliction’ helps drag the crushed-out exhaustion from the industrial mindset accentuated by Soccer Mommy’s softer hushed-out vocals. That darker sonic tapestry is seen deeper in ‘Darkness Forever’ with all of the shifting glitchy synths, crumbling distorted guitar tones, and drooling bass work that creates this slow yet bellowing noise. It does complement the spare details of burning away the demons within her, which might be the way to feel any sense of relief away from the devilish sense of darkness clawing within. ‘Newdemo’ strips the soundscape with only a tempered acoustic guitar and blissful yet also roaring synth patches, keeping the sense of false hope towards dreams as the eerie cracks of the world seem to swallow everything down. And the whimsical shyness of horrors in ‘Following Eyes’ is communicated effectively as the throbbing guitars and drums linger before blooming pretty on the surface, allowing the hook and the vocals to pop with a sense of gleaming aura in them.
This sonic tapestry that Soccer Mommy steps into may allow for her writing to expand and her vocals to find corners of comfort, but some of the execution on either Oneohtrix’s clamoring production or Soccer Mommy’s melodies put the songs in a way that could’ve been fleshed out melodically, or just that the songs feel mild than they should be. ‘Darkness Forever’ with the already spare lyrical details and slower pace could have been a little more flowery on the lyrical meat or intensified the melodic progressions on the guitars and the drums. As much as there is a lot of firepower on ‘Don’t Ask Me’ with the sharper textures on the instrumentation, they do overpower Soccer Mommy’s vocal presence at spots, blemishing her in the background instead of elevating her to the forefront. ‘Feel It All The Time’ and ‘Fire In The Driveway’ end up as some of the milder cuts on the record, ending up both with a lulling atmosphere from the melodies with the former coming off plain and the latter ending up a little underwhelming as the guitar strums and vocal melodies wander to the point of not finding a spot of climax.
There is a sense of wandering excitement coming from Soccer Mommy’s new release. Finding new grounds of ambition in her songwriting and performance aspects that are helped further by Oneohtrix Point Never’s eclectic textures and production providing her sonic landscapes to nestle into. With new grounds does come a new set of flaws, where either the production or the melodic foundations find themselves wandering too long and ending up in a stasis that doesn’t create a great impression. It is still a record that sticks the landing, for the most part, bringing through some of Soccer Mommy’s impressive tracks to date. With this record out, there are even more roads of ambition that Soccer Mommy can step towards and it definitely shows that she works well with ambitious textures that others might have expected. This record may end at a standstill, but it’s a stop that may take its take to know where to move next.
Favorite Tracks: Bones, With U, Unholy Affliction, Shotgun, newdemo, Following Eyes, Still
Least Favorite Track: Fire In The Driveway