During her ascent as a Bandcamp artist, Soccer Mommy (real name Sophia Allison) was doing it on her own, and although she has a more full band sound on her upcoming Fat Possum debut Clean, she’s just shared the album’s sort-of title track “Still Clean,” a throwback to the halcyon days of not so long ago. The slow-burning song features just Allison’s voice and an acoustic guitar, although there are swelling textural synths highlighting the emotional crescendos of the sparse track, working as a bridge between her more raw sound and the newfound polish that these next steps in her career has brought.
Allison says that the song is about the idealization of love and placing romantic interests on a pedestal:
“‘Still Clean’ discusses the hopelessness of waiting for someone who’s abandoned you. It uses this idea of being ‘clean’ to explain the feeling of being stuck waiting for someone, hoping that they haven’t moved on from you. When you are stuck in this place of waiting you kind of put your world — and your memory of them — on pause. But as the song shows, sometimes people keep moving while you’re standing still, and sometimes you’re the only one who’s left clean.”
Clean comes out on 3/2 via Fat Possum. Listen to the title track above, and find Soccer Mommy’s upcoming tour dates here.
