Sometimes, Forever

It’s a staggeringly powerful, and admirably honest, piece of songwriting – one that leaves listeners wrestling with an indescribable sense of hollowness in its wake.

Sometimes, Forever is a rich and varied album, with ultramodern production that never tramples the influences at play.

It’s a record that operates in extremes, with the highs ascending to ultra-catchy pop bliss and the lows exploring barren depths of depression. Each emotion and each moment is transient, leading seamlessly into the next in an overwhelming rush.

This doesn’t negate the power of Sometimes, Forever, a record that will be noted for its big swings, but rather reinforces it. When a band is able to thrive both inside and outside their comfort zone, it is built to last. The release of Sometimes, Forever is just another indication that Soccer Mommy will persevere in the face of an industry that is always changing.

Sometimes, Forever is the most colorful album of Allison’s career, but once all her skeletons are revealed, that’s when she’ll reach her true peak. Until that moment arrives, this is the most convincing and complete package from Soccer Mommy to date.

On Sometimes, Forever, every languid lyric and opaque melody feels strategically placed with care and concern.

It’s probably the most accessible Soccer Mommy album to date.

It’s music to laugh about our former selves at, just as much as it’s perfect to get drunk and eat ice cream to – and in that, it could define a whole new generation. But for now, it will totally define this summer.

With the help of Lopatin’s production and mixing, Sometimes, Forever takes a different approach, creating dense sonic landscapes packed with various analog and electronic sounds. It’s Allison’s biggest risk to date but one that comes with plenty of rewards.

Sometimes, Forever, though on the whole a rockier, more grown up record, still has its moments of teenage innocence: Shotgun and Feel It All The Time seem like continuations of the biggest singles from color theory, royal screw up and circle the drain, that became sad anthems for disenchanted youth.

By marrying this thick haze -- somewhere between shoegaze and analog drone -- to introspective, melodic songwriting, Soccer Mommy winds up with an album that feels simultaneously familiar and fresh, a record that delivers deliberate surprises while also acting as a soothing balm.

Throughout Sometimes, Forever, she and Lopatin expand on the ’90s palette that has characterized previous Soccer Mommy releases. Bolstering the lingering imprints of Liz Phair, Sheryl Crow, and Sleater-Kinney is a healthy dose of Loveless worship: glide guitars and tendrils of haze.

‘Sometimes, Forever’ takes risks, embodies the freeing, ephemeral nature of life, and the joy of following your inner monologue as you follow hers.

This is nuanced, purposeful songwriting from an artist growing in power.

Sometimes, Forever is at its most engaging when Lopatin’s sound designs appear to be working in sympathy with the grimmer aspects of the lyrics and at odds with Allison’s penchant for a toothsome pop melody.

Throughout the album, Soccer Mommy staves off despair with musical craftsmanship.

The gambles pay off, and all add up to her most accomplished group of songs to date.

Sophie Allison's ascent from teenage bedroom-pop savant to incisive chronicler of Gen Z angst hits a crescendo on Sometimes, Forever, an improbable but rewarding collaboration with Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin. [Aug 2022, p.33]

Her insinuation of millennial angst-pop into pre-millennial alt-rock is so deft and affecting that Sometimes, Forever rewards the investment. Soccer Mommy feels like the real deal, [Jul 2022, p.92]

Absent an infectious melody and accompaniment that establishes rhythmic and/or ambient contrast, her voice tends to grow monotonous and disengaging. But when the aesthetic balances are in place, as they are for much of Sometimes, Forever, then Allison glows like a moon reflecting a dying sun, one of the substantial artists of her generation.