SOCCER MOMMY - Collection LP

Label: Fat Possum

For any songwriter with an achy heart and some basic recording software, Bandcamp has become a bit like what LiveJournal was a half generation ago: a network of sensitive souls, broadcasting feelings they would never share in person.

Of course, most of these songwriters never find much of an audience, but Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison is among the relative few who have built a real following through the site. For the last couple of years, she’s provided listeners a play-by-play as she’s internalized the rejection of one unrequited love after another over a series of lonesome EPs with titles like songs from my bedroom and songs for the recently sad.

Allison’s voice has the same captivatingly mournful quality as naturals like Julie Doiron and Elliott Smith, so she’s well suited for this territory. Increasingly, though, she’s begun pushing back against her reputation for “sad girl music,” both in interviews and in the studio, where the upgrade to a full band has given her songs a little extra drive. If it’s a sign of what’s to come, it’s an exciting one.