S.Lo on March 28th, 2018

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If Sebadoh were reborn today with a female voice, they would probably reincarnate as 20-year-old Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy.

Part of Nashville’s DIY music scene, Allison didn’t come out as a singer-songwriter herself until just before leaving for college in the Big Apple, finally releasing her lo-fi, Tascam-recorded songs for free on Bandcamp under her nom de tune in 2015. It quickly caught a buzz after she played some shows and picked up a record deal. Three years and a world tour later, she released her third album, “Clean,” this month via Fat Possum Records. Produced by Gabe Wax (War On Drugs, Deerhunter, Beirut) and mixed by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey), Allison says, “I’d never made a full album before, just EPs and random tracks thrown together. I wanted it to be a lot more cohesive than the rest of the stuff that came before.” “Clean” has already made a dent in various charts, and earned some rave reviews.

Last week, she released the video for “Cool.” Directed by Ambar Navarro with animations by Art Baby Girl (Grace Miceli), it begins lo-fi with just Allison and her guitar plugged into an amp on a baseball field. About a schoolgirl crush named Mary, Allison and her band are crammed in school desks while notebook doodles playfully float around them. Observing Mary and her relationships from afar, Allison sings, “Ooh, I wanna know her like you / I wanna be that cool.” It’s a wistful reminder of teenage crushes and the youthful yearnings of an outsider.

||| Watch: The video for “Cool”

||| Also watch: The video for “Your Dog”

||| Live: Soccer Mommy plays a sold-out show at the Echo on April 10, with Madeline Kennedy and Hana Vu opening. Tickets.