Though raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison has a musical — and fashionable — sensibility that could’ve been transplanted from the sprawling, sunny suburbs of Los Angeles, California. That’s because the pop-indie rock artist has a keen ability to take some of the most intimate moments of her life and the most tragic moments of heartbreak and package them into lyrics.
Images of swimming in a pool, getting high, curling up on the couch, watching movies and spending hours on the phone are what come to many minds when asked to think of slow summer afternoons, times during which one could afford to think about and rethink relationships that could have been.
So when the 21-year-old came onstage last Sunday, clad in the slept-in look of 2018’s 90s with an oversized blue flannel, sports bra and baggy, wide-legged jeans, Allison was determined to take the crowd — many of which could have been older than her — back to “those days.”
From “Henry” to “Cool,” each song was a somber revisitation of past lovers, mistakes and pains. But the nostalgia factor truly kicked in when Allison was left by herself onstage to perform her slow, spacey cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.” Not only did it pay homage to an era of rock that’s phasing out, but it was also an evocative image of Allison’s initial foray into music — alone, singing to herself in her bedroom.
Even when her voice was not configured to stretch in a wide variety of ranges, Allison found the perfect amount of space within her own boundaries. In effect, when she sings, “Show me why my heart beats / Give me how it feels without the pain” during “Try,” the singer does so with just the right amount of indifference and irony to make her request sound honest and relatable.