Soccer Mommy’s M: Back to Her Indie Roots

Soccer Mommy has been a favourite of Cigar Jukebox for a few years now. On her last record Sometimes, Forever we saw Soccer Mommy’s sound leaning more into electric rock with some great riffs and a fuller sound on some tracks. At the time, I thought this may have been a turn for Soccer Mommy and we would see a new side of her music. Then the EP Karaoke Night came out and we heard some indie rock twists on some 90s covers. Now, we have M which is a single off of her upcoming record Evergreen….where will we go from here?

Musically, M is a return to the singer songwriter indie folk sound we got off of her early records. Crunchy rock guitar gives way to some more Kurt Vile-esque twangy slacker meets surfer rolling guitar riffs. It is a very organic beachy vibe, as opposed to the more crunchy and edgy side we got on tracks like Shotgun. having said that, it is a more complex and evolved arrangement from her early work. Guitar chords and riffs float along an intricate percussion spine, which gives the track a warm organic feel. Even though Soccer Mommy is harkening back to her indie singer songwriter roots, you can feel how her sound has evolved over time.

Vocally, the sharp side of Soccer Mommy we got on Shotgun and Karaoke Night is not present on M. Instead, we are greeted with an expansive and fragile vocal that fits really well with the music. In a way, her vocal is a bit more on show than in previous tracks and really takes up the space. Even though it has a fragile nature to it, there is a warmth and fullness to it that works really well.

The single, M, along with the title Evergreen gives me a feeling that we are in for a more organic and electronically sparse release than we have had in the past few years. I’m excited to see how Soccer Mommy fills out this record and if the sound on M carries through the entire record. I love how Soccer Mommy has taken another zig when I thought she would zag and continues to evolve her sound.

Listen to M