Soccer Mommy’s 2020 release Color Theory was a vulnerable, hypnotic record in which singer-songwriter Sophie Allison shared her most intimate fears and perceived faults with us. The songs on her 2022 release Sometimes, Forever, are spellbinding in a wholly different way. Allison worked with producer and electronic music artist Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, to elevate her dreamy, ethereal voice and nuanced imagery with layers of intricate instrumentation — shoegaze-adjacent guitar, haunting mechanical beats that would make Trent Reznor proud — and each song shape-shifts and reveals itself a little more with every listen. It’s too much to take all at once; it’s the opposite of Color Theory, a record that showed its hand from the get-go. Sometimes, Forever is seductive, sounding very much like a secret you aren’t sure you’re supposed to be hearing.
