Sophie Allison’s songs are intimate — sometimes to the point where it makes you uncomfortable. Her music looks at love and relationships through the prism of youth in a way you’re only capable of doing for a few short years. I ask the 21-year-old Nashville singer/songwriter behind Soccer Mommy if she thinks that she will ever regret any of the lyrics she’s penned and without missing a beat she responds “Oh god yeah, it’s already happening now.”
Allison can take comfort in the fact that there is nothing on her debut studio album, this year’s Clean, for her to be ashamed of. The album takes the journal entry pop she honed over her Bandcamp releases and channels it into a clear, concise picture of young love and heartbreak.
On the songs where Allison isn’t spilling her guts, she’s talking about how she longs to be the cool, detached indie muse. Here’s the thing, she already is. She’s got a killer collection of vintage band t-shirts (“My favorite is the Billy Ray Cyrus one because it reminds me of a Friday the 13th poster”), she gets free guitars from Fender, and she even spent time taking music business classes at NYU (“I never had the chance to use what I learned on a promoter trying to screw us”). Plus, she’s toured heavy-hitters like Mitski, Slowdive, and Luna. It’s the perfect show to go to if you’re looking to see some great indie rock, or just up your indie credibility.