Biography
Soccer Mommy is the project of Sophie Allison, who was born in Switzerland and grew up in Nashville, where she trained as a jazz guitarist.[1] She built an audience with bedroom-recorded EPs released on Bandcamp, and the 2017 compilation Collection gathered that early work.[2] Her debut studio album Clean, released March 2, 2018, on Fat Possum Records, introduced a full-band sound and was widely praised.[2][2] Its lead single was Your Dog.
Allison was born Sophia Regina Allison on May 27, 1997, in Zürich, and moved to Nashville as a toddler; her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father a neuroscientist.[3] She studied at the Nashville School of the Arts, began posting home recordings to Bandcamp in 2015, and enrolled at New York University to study music business and English before leaving after two years in 2017 to focus on music.[3] The name Soccer Mommy came from a joke Twitter handle, and Fat Possum signed her soon after her first show.[3] She has cited influences ranging from Mitski, Slowdive, and Sonic Youth to Natalie Imbruglia, Avril Lavigne, and country music.[3]
Some of the songs on Clean predate the album: she has said "Blossom (Wasting All My Time)" was among the first she wrote for it, and that she recorded a demo of it in her college dorm basement.[4]
References
- First Listen: Soccer Mommy, 'Clean' (NPR) — Album release date, Fat Possum context, and critical reception.
- Soccer Mommy, 'Clean' Review (NME) — Critical reception of the album.
- Soccer Mommy (Wikipedia) — Biography, education, early releases, and influences.
- Soccer Mommy shares "Blossom (Demo)" and "Be Seeing You" (The FADER) — Allison's statement on the origin of Blossom and its dorm-basement demo.