Sophie Allison–aka Soccer Mommy– is back with her highly anticipated sophomore album Color Theory. The album is the follow up to her 2018 debut Clean, and explores the 22-year-old's inner psyche, confronting her demons and revisiting her childhood traumas.
The album is divided into three sections, each signified by a specific color: "blue for sadness, depression and heartbreak; yellow for paranoia and illness, mental and physical; and gray for death." Color Theory plays out like a braided essay; while there are clearly distinct parts, many of the themes overlap in the album's ten tracks, namely her depression, her mother's cancer and self-reflection.
Opener "Bloodstream" finds Allison reminiscing on her childhood depression, and the anxiety that has carried over to adulthood. "Hydrangeas blooming off the branches on park trees / It’s a half-hearted calm, the way I’ve felt since I was thirteen," she sings, chasing a seemingly unattainable happiness. "I feel it slipping through my fingers / But I can’t catch it in my hands."
"Circle the Drain" is a cry for help from those feelings, and Allison masks her dark lyrics with buoyant, textured guitars and a poppy hook. "Hey, I've been falling apart these days," Allison sighs. "Things feel that low sometimes / Even when everything is fine."
Throughout the record, Allison oscillates between depression and self-loathing, which affects her relationships with other people. She calls herself the "princess of screwin' up" ("Royal Screw Up") and worries that her lover will leave her because she's "climbing up the walls" ("Up the Walls").
Her rising success as an artist also takes a toll on her mental health and her relationship with people she cares about. On the seven-minute ballad "Yellow Is the Color of Her Eyes," Allison addresses the guilt she feels going on tour while her mother is home sick. "I’m thinking of her from over the ocean / See her face in the waves, her body is floating / And in her eyes like clementines / I know that she’s fading," she sings.
One of the darkest moments is in "Stain," when Allison realizes she's losing too much of herself to another person. "And I hate the taste / That it puts into my mouth / Now I'm always stained / Like the sheets at my parents' house."
The lyrical content is heavy, but there’s a sense of brightness and light that shines through the cracks, thanks to Allison’s full band. Unlike Clean, where she worked solo with a hired drummer, Allison enlisted some help for Color Theory, and made it more of a collaborative effort.
"For this album, we had my whole band that I’ve been playing with for a long time come in, learn the songs, and contribute to it, which I think makes it sound a lot more like how we sound live," she said.
"I think it translates a little better than Clean did just because our live performances are a lot like how everybody that’s playing with me plays, and I kinda give them some freedom to make their own parts a lot of the time."
Each of the songs has a totally different sound, ranging from the atmospheric "Night Swimming," which literally sounds like it's submerged in water, to the punchy, upbeat "Crawling in My Skin" to the gut-wrenching finale "Gray Light," which evokes a vintage sound with vinyl scratches and warped production.
"["Gray Light"] closes the album on on a bright note," Allison said.
"...of wondering about death and watching someone else go through illness and kind of comparing it to yourself. [It’s about] looking forward to your future and wondering what that holds, and fearing time and uncertainty."
Soccer Mommy is hitting the road in support of the album next month. Check out her upcoming dates below!
Soccer Mommy 2020 North American Tour dates
03/26 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse*
03/27 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle*
03/28 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club*
03/31 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer*
04/03 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel*
04/04 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club*
04/07 – Montreal, QC, CA – L’Astral*
04/08 – Toronto, ON, CA – Phoenix Concert Theatre*
04/09 – Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop*
04/11 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall*
04/17 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall^
04/18 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre^
04/19 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue^
04/22 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre^
04/24 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Commonwealth Room^
04/25 – Boise, ID – Deathproof Coffee^
04/26 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom^
04/27 – Seattle, WA – Neumos^
04/29 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore^
04/30 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre^
05/01 – La Jolla, CA – Stage Room^
05/02 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom^
05/03 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf^
05/05 – Austin, TX – Emo’s East^
05/06 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall^
05/07 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater^
* = with Tomberlin
^ = with Emily Reo
