Soccer Mommy’s “color theory” is one of the albums of the year for me. I don’t think I spent enough time with it when it first came out (in February, basically a lifetime ago), but I’ve been listening to it probably once a week over the last few months and I love it. The album feels more intense and inward-looking than “Clean,” which seemed more focused on relationships. “color theory” has that too—discussions of relationships—but there’s a lot of rumination, examination of feelings and mental states.
The singles from this album, “lucy,” “yellow is the color of her eyes,” and “circle the drain,” are all among Sophie Allison’s best stuff, particularly “yellow is the color of her eyes,” which is a heartbreaking song about being someone’s child and wanting them to know how much you love them.
I go back and forth on this, but “bloodstream” is probably my favorite song on the album. It’s a good representation of struggling with depression, and Allison has such a great simile for trying to hold onto happiness and contentment when you can feel it going away: “Happiness is like a firefly/on summer free evenings/feel it slipping/through my fingers/But I can’t catch it in my hands/catch it in my…” Allison sings too about depression waiting for its chance to return: “But I know it’s there/swimming through my bloodstream/and it’s gonna come for me/yeah it’s gonna come for me.” Which is reminiscent of something Javier Marias wrote in the “Your Face Tomorrow” trilogy about the possibilities you carry within yourself for your whole life--to your detriment or benefit.
“color theory,” like a lot of great albums, has pockets of sounds and weird little moments that you only notice after listening to the album a dozen times. Every song is catchy and fascinating, but then after listening for a while, you also notice how well crafted and designed they all are too.