WEBVTT - Soccer Mommy 0:00:15.516 --> 0:00:15.996 Pushkin. 0:00:20.276 --> 0:00:22.956 Soccer Mommy is one of the standout singer songwriters to 0:00:23.036 --> 0:00:26.276 merge over the last half decade. She was born Sophia 0:00:26.356 --> 0:00:29.316 Allison and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where she started playing 0:00:29.356 --> 0:00:32.956 guitar at six years old. Sophia started posting her songs 0:00:32.996 --> 0:00:35.476 on band camp in twenty fifteen under the name soccer 0:00:35.516 --> 0:00:37.916 Mommy the summer before moving to New York to study 0:00:37.996 --> 0:00:41.836 music business at NYU. Two years later, she dropped out 0:00:41.836 --> 0:00:45.716 after signing her first record deal with Fat Possum. Since then, 0:00:45.756 --> 0:00:47.876 she has released four albums and toured with artists like 0:00:47.956 --> 0:00:53.076 Vampire Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers, and Mitski. Soccer Mommy's latest album, Evergreen, 0:00:53.356 --> 0:00:56.636 is a reflection on grief and loneliness, and was described 0:00:56.676 --> 0:00:59.556 recently by Pitchfork as the most laid back and pastoral 0:00:59.676 --> 0:01:06.316 music of her career. This is broken record liner notes 0:01:06.316 --> 0:01:14.196 for the digital age. I'm justin Ritchman. Here's Bruce Alum 0:01:14.476 --> 0:01:16.436 with Soccer Mommy. 0:01:27.676 --> 0:01:37.556 You've got name, You've got to face all these things. 0:01:38.556 --> 0:01:49.516 I don't know Send James, It's Slyes Sun. You've got 0:01:49.596 --> 0:02:01.356 a name. You've been with me? Where Argon Hashi faces 0:02:01.356 --> 0:02:02.316 on a no. 0:02:04.476 --> 0:02:13.756 Sles Bsnoyay, it's so makes. 0:02:13.236 --> 0:02:17.756 Sense based the lever. 0:02:20.356 --> 0:02:31.876 Fheard not the chance had ask her though, I'll ask you. 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:51.916 I've got a name, You've got a big sho. 0:02:52.676 --> 0:02:57.196 Out of careny thing, and. 0:02:57.436 --> 0:02:58.156 I ne. 0:03:03.516 --> 0:03:09.156 N escape from. 0:03:13.356 --> 0:03:20.236 Gibbert say linn if I moed. 0:03:23.436 --> 0:03:38.236 Bosing, It's makes sense. Bosnoid leve fhard not the chance. 0:03:38.036 --> 0:03:49.916 Side give th bosing. It can't forget boss, like. 0:03:50.076 --> 0:03:58.676 The things on itself, for had not the chance side 0:03:59.556 --> 0:04:00.396 tell the thing. 0:04:04.796 --> 0:04:06.716 A sell the thing. 0:04:29.996 --> 0:04:33.556 Okay, that's the first it's the first grade song. Well 0:04:33.596 --> 0:04:35.596 actually it's the first song and the first grade song 0:04:36.356 --> 0:04:40.356 off your new album. So, Sophie Allison soccer mommy, thank 0:04:40.436 --> 0:04:42.516 you so much for coming in. Yeah, thanks for having me, 0:04:43.036 --> 0:04:45.756 your total trooper. You come in, you pick up the guitar, 0:04:46.276 --> 0:04:48.076 I need some reverb, and then you just sit down 0:04:48.116 --> 0:04:50.036 and play. That was no muss, no fuss. 0:04:50.436 --> 0:04:53.276 It's always easier alone without it, without a band with you. 0:04:53.476 --> 0:04:55.516 Oh really, yeah, they're bringing you down. 0:04:55.876 --> 0:04:58.356 Well no, it's obviously I love playing with them, but 0:04:58.596 --> 0:05:01.356 it's it's simpler. Yeah, you know, it's more straightforward. Everything 0:05:01.396 --> 0:05:04.916 I write is just guitar and vocals. While I'm writing it, 0:05:05.076 --> 0:05:07.756 So it's just like playing its simplest form. 0:05:08.156 --> 0:05:10.636 Okay. For the guitar players out there who were saying, wow, 0:05:10.676 --> 0:05:13.396 how'd she get that sound? What was your tuning? 0:05:13.676 --> 0:05:16.796 It's open D. It's da D F sharp ad. 0:05:17.436 --> 0:05:19.956 Oh okay, so like dad, dad, but you turn down 0:05:19.996 --> 0:05:22.316 the F sharp exactly? Do you write a lot in that? 0:05:22.876 --> 0:05:25.276 I do? Actually, I use it a lot. I mostly 0:05:25.396 --> 0:05:28.876 use that open A, which is e A C sharp 0:05:29.116 --> 0:05:30.876 eae and standard. 0:05:31.956 --> 0:05:35.276 When did you, cause you started playing very young, when 0:05:35.356 --> 0:05:36.836 did the different tunings come in? 0:05:37.636 --> 0:05:40.636 That wasn't until like soccer mommy, pretty much until I 0:05:40.676 --> 0:05:43.836 started writing songs for that. I think it was probably 0:05:43.956 --> 0:05:47.996 about when I was like nineteen or twenty. I think 0:05:48.316 --> 0:05:50.756 it's just a really good way if you've been playing 0:05:50.796 --> 0:05:52.556 guitar for a long time and you kind of know 0:05:52.716 --> 0:05:56.316 the neck a bit, you know chord shapes to take 0:05:56.356 --> 0:05:58.756 all of that knowledge out of your hands a little 0:05:58.796 --> 0:06:01.316 bit and to kind of erase that, like you can 0:06:01.356 --> 0:06:04.716 get a little bit like formulaic. I think sometimes when 0:06:04.756 --> 0:06:08.076 you know where to go next, and it definitely takes 0:06:08.116 --> 0:06:08.476 that away. 0:06:09.636 --> 0:06:14.036 Does it take a lot of rethinking or is it 0:06:14.116 --> 0:06:16.276 the sort of thing you find a chord, you find 0:06:16.316 --> 0:06:17.756 a good sound and then you move it up and 0:06:17.836 --> 0:06:18.836 down the neck a little bit. 0:06:19.396 --> 0:06:21.356 Yeah, it's kind of you have to rethink a lot, 0:06:21.436 --> 0:06:25.196 but you do find things that I think in open 0:06:25.276 --> 0:06:27.956 a for example, if I were to play like a 0:06:28.036 --> 0:06:32.116 dominant seven chord just anywhere on the neck pretty much, 0:06:32.116 --> 0:06:33.476 if I were to play that kind of shape, it 0:06:33.516 --> 0:06:37.916 would be a minor chord, just randomly found that out. 0:06:38.276 --> 0:06:40.756 But you just kind of you mess around until you 0:06:40.796 --> 0:06:43.756 find something that sounds like a chord, sounds recognizable, and 0:06:43.836 --> 0:06:46.276 then yeah, you can put it, put it anywhere, and 0:06:46.436 --> 0:06:49.956 just have to maybe work around open strings sounding a 0:06:50.036 --> 0:06:53.036 little funky and try to stay away from those if 0:06:53.076 --> 0:06:53.756 it's not working. 0:06:54.636 --> 0:06:57.996 I've read somewhere your father was a neuroscientist. 0:06:58.436 --> 0:06:59.436 He is a neuroscientist. 0:06:59.556 --> 0:07:00.316 What does he study. 0:07:01.276 --> 0:07:06.556 I have no clue he does. He was, like, I know, 0:07:06.716 --> 0:07:09.036 he was studying amphibians when I was younger. I think 0:07:09.156 --> 0:07:11.276 he just runs like a lab for college students now, 0:07:11.356 --> 0:07:14.876 so he's not doing anything crazy, you know, it's just 0:07:14.996 --> 0:07:17.996 kind of lab work. 0:07:18.356 --> 0:07:20.596 I think he would have some he would have some 0:07:20.716 --> 0:07:23.436 thoughts on open tunings and how you it sort of 0:07:23.556 --> 0:07:25.756 rearranges your neural pathways all that. 0:07:26.196 --> 0:07:28.796 Yeah, I think it really does. It completely makes you 0:07:28.916 --> 0:07:33.556 relearn that which you know, and like chord shapes, you know, 0:07:33.676 --> 0:07:35.956 you have these new chord shapes that if you were 0:07:35.996 --> 0:07:38.796 to blame in standard, it's like mush. 0:07:40.516 --> 0:07:41.956 How did that change your song writing? 0:07:43.876 --> 0:07:48.156 I think it just gave me more space to be inspired. Honestly. 0:07:49.156 --> 0:07:53.316 I still write in standard too sometimes, but it's a 0:07:53.396 --> 0:07:56.356 lot easier to come up with something new and fresh 0:07:56.436 --> 0:08:00.116 and something that triggers something new in your brain, you know, 0:08:00.236 --> 0:08:04.356 melodically or just kind of vibe wise, if you don't 0:08:04.876 --> 0:08:07.676 have such a set idea of what you're going to 0:08:07.756 --> 0:08:08.516 do and what you can. 0:08:08.476 --> 0:08:12.036 Do, does it become a little more almost subconscious what 0:08:12.116 --> 0:08:12.516 you're doing. 0:08:13.396 --> 0:08:16.316 Yeah, you're just looking for sound, honestly, like when you're 0:08:16.676 --> 0:08:20.396 doing an open tuning and you don't know chords, You're 0:08:20.476 --> 0:08:22.316 just looking for something that sounds cool, and you're just 0:08:22.436 --> 0:08:25.996 like putting your hands in places kind of guessing and 0:08:27.156 --> 0:08:29.196 if something sounds weird and you can just move your 0:08:29.236 --> 0:08:31.316 finger over a thread, move it up a thread, down 0:08:31.356 --> 0:08:35.116 a fret, see if that changes anything. And then once 0:08:35.156 --> 0:08:37.436 you get those, yeah, those kind of shapes, you can 0:08:38.396 --> 0:08:40.956 get a little bit more normal with what you're expecting 0:08:41.076 --> 0:08:43.876 to do and chord progressions and all that. But it 0:08:44.556 --> 0:08:48.876 definitely is something that kind of unleashes this freedom in 0:08:48.996 --> 0:08:51.316 the same way that people can write amazing music without 0:08:51.396 --> 0:08:54.396 understanding an instrument at all. It's like you can kind 0:08:54.436 --> 0:08:55.596 of get a freedom out. 0:08:55.436 --> 0:08:58.556 Of it, and some people, if they learn an instrument too, 0:08:58.596 --> 0:09:02.356 will feel a little constricted. 0:09:03.156 --> 0:09:03.356 Yeah. 0:09:03.596 --> 0:09:07.076 Yeah, but you've got a lot of and you always 0:09:07.116 --> 0:09:08.876 have in your music. You've got a lot of really 0:09:10.556 --> 0:09:13.596 sort of harmonic moves in your songs. Do you write, 0:09:13.916 --> 0:09:15.996 is it the harmony come first and then the melody? 0:09:16.796 --> 0:09:20.996 It's always chords first. Yeah, it's always always guitar chords, 0:09:21.796 --> 0:09:24.676 not necessarily the entire song written out, but I kind 0:09:24.756 --> 0:09:27.356 of find a chord progression or something and start working 0:09:27.396 --> 0:09:31.796 off of that with like lyrical and melodic ideas. Those 0:09:32.236 --> 0:09:37.276 lyrics and melody usually kind of form together. The lyrics 0:09:37.316 --> 0:09:39.956 maybe take a little longer. She tweaked a little bit, 0:09:40.036 --> 0:09:44.076 but I try to make sure those are intertwined, because 0:09:44.116 --> 0:09:46.276 I think that cadence and everything is really important. 0:09:47.556 --> 0:09:50.876 You have a I think it's in the song change. 0:09:50.916 --> 0:09:53.996 I think you've got a nice I think you've got 0:09:54.036 --> 0:09:56.236 a nice key change right at the end of the chorus, 0:09:56.996 --> 0:10:00.556 which I can't I can't quite remember what the aggression was. 0:10:00.756 --> 0:10:02.516 I don't know what the key change goes. I wish 0:10:02.516 --> 0:10:04.596 I could tell you, because it's in a crazy tuning, 0:10:04.716 --> 0:10:08.236 so I have basically no idea what I'm playing. It's in. 0:10:09.156 --> 0:10:12.236 It's like a Joni Mitchell tuning that I that I saw, 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:19.996 but it's I think it's dac fa fa D. I 0:10:20.076 --> 0:10:22.076 think dak fad. 0:10:22.756 --> 0:10:22.956 Yeah. 0:10:23.116 --> 0:10:24.796 That sounds like something definitely strange. 0:10:24.956 --> 0:10:27.076 It's a very deep holl you're going into if you're 0:10:27.076 --> 0:10:30.236 doing Joni Mitchell tune. Yeah, yeah, what did you just 0:10:30.596 --> 0:10:32.436 hear one of her songs and start looking them up? 0:10:32.876 --> 0:10:35.876 No? I think Actually my guitar player, Julian, who's my partner, 0:10:35.916 --> 0:10:37.996 who had tuned one of the guitars in our house 0:10:38.076 --> 0:10:38.276 to it. 0:10:38.716 --> 0:10:39.236 Oh, okay. 0:10:39.276 --> 0:10:41.956 Sometimes we'll just give me one and say try this 0:10:42.156 --> 0:10:43.916 and if I can't. If I don't find something in 0:10:43.956 --> 0:10:47.156 a minute, I'm like, I don't like this one. If 0:10:47.196 --> 0:10:49.716 I find like a really pretty sounding chord, I'm like, ooh. 0:10:50.316 --> 0:10:54.436 Interesting, You've also and I'm not I don't remember the song. 0:10:54.476 --> 0:10:56.276 You've got a lot of boro chords and songs you 0:10:56.396 --> 0:10:58.636 go to a lot of miners. When people that expect 0:10:58.636 --> 0:11:03.356 a major one song, you've got a really nice walk 0:11:03.476 --> 0:11:06.316 up from like the minor sixth, the flat six flat 0:11:06.396 --> 0:11:09.596 seventh to the tonic, which is really unexpected. Songs are 0:11:09.636 --> 0:11:13.396 full of you know, in an era where most songs 0:11:13.436 --> 0:11:17.516 we hear have like four chords, Yeah, yours are always surprising. 0:11:18.436 --> 0:11:21.876 Yeah. I love chords and I love you know, surprising 0:11:21.996 --> 0:11:25.476 changes that make you like kind of feel it. I 0:11:25.556 --> 0:11:27.436 guess when it comes to a point in a song 0:11:27.516 --> 0:11:30.676 and there's a strange chord and you're like, WHOA interesting. 0:11:31.676 --> 0:11:34.516 I think that was something that used to be used 0:11:34.516 --> 0:11:37.316 a lot more in particularly in pop music, Like even 0:11:37.356 --> 0:11:39.036 when I was growing up. I think there's a lot 0:11:39.076 --> 0:11:42.676 of really sneaky stuff going on in pop music. You 0:11:42.716 --> 0:11:45.436 don't see it as much now, I don't think, but 0:11:45.756 --> 0:11:48.316 I think you can still make things that are catchy 0:11:48.716 --> 0:11:52.836 and you know, poppy, so to speak, and have those 0:11:52.996 --> 0:11:54.516 kind of things start in there and it's kind of 0:11:54.636 --> 0:11:59.436 like being sneakily kind of crazy in the middle of 0:11:59.516 --> 0:12:01.356 a song that's right like pop. 0:12:01.916 --> 0:12:04.796 And you know, you give people a little like you said, 0:12:04.836 --> 0:12:07.676 you got a jolt when you find those things, So 0:12:08.716 --> 0:12:10.316 of course it gives the listeners that too. 0:12:11.036 --> 0:12:13.196 Yeah, it's I mean it feels good when you hear 0:12:13.356 --> 0:12:15.676 people do that. I mean you look at like Nirvana 0:12:15.836 --> 0:12:19.716 even for example, and you hear these kind of sometimes 0:12:19.796 --> 0:12:25.036 slightly off chord progressions that are really satisfying with the 0:12:25.116 --> 0:12:28.596 melodies and everything, and I think it inspires something a 0:12:28.636 --> 0:12:30.156 little different, a little more exciting. 0:12:30.316 --> 0:12:33.836 Sometimes I hear quite a bit of Elliott Smith and 0:12:33.876 --> 0:12:35.676 you're playing too, But I don't know if. 0:12:35.596 --> 0:12:36.756 That's I love Elliot Smith. 0:12:36.916 --> 0:12:39.756 Okay, yeah, so I'm not You're not going to stare 0:12:39.756 --> 0:12:40.756 at me blankly. 0:12:40.556 --> 0:12:42.396 Like what, No, I love Elliott Smith? 0:12:42.596 --> 0:12:44.996 Okay, Yeah, I think a lot of the major mindor 0:12:45.076 --> 0:12:47.836 borrowed chords he does that a lot. I hear that 0:12:47.956 --> 0:12:51.796 in you, and that's Beatles, I guess ultimately. But yeah, okay, 0:12:51.876 --> 0:12:54.156 we're really nerding out on chords, So maybe we should 0:12:54.196 --> 0:12:59.156 back up. The new album is Evergreen. Tell me about 0:12:59.236 --> 0:13:00.276 how it came about. 0:13:01.396 --> 0:13:05.116 Yeah, I mean, it's a long process writing an album. 0:13:05.436 --> 0:13:09.036 I pretty much started right after the last album came out, 0:13:10.196 --> 0:13:14.156 So summer twenty twenty two is when I really started 0:13:14.156 --> 0:13:16.996 getting into it. Changes, which you brought up earlier, is 0:13:16.996 --> 0:13:19.956 a little older. Actually, I wrote that during making the 0:13:20.036 --> 0:13:22.916 last album and said this is not gonna fit and 0:13:23.076 --> 0:13:24.036 kind of kept it for later. 0:13:24.436 --> 0:13:26.836 Now, are you the kind of writer who I'm sitting 0:13:26.916 --> 0:13:30.796 down every day, you know, pencil, paper in hand, guitar 0:13:31.436 --> 0:13:33.716 at the ready, to write for three hours. 0:13:33.796 --> 0:13:36.756 I'm really not. I don't actually usually write anything down. 0:13:36.876 --> 0:13:40.116 I don't kind of log anything. If I'm gonna log it, 0:13:40.156 --> 0:13:43.476 it's gonna be like a quick demo that I just 0:13:43.596 --> 0:13:46.196 have kind of done, and that's that's done. 0:13:46.316 --> 0:13:47.036 You use your phone. 0:13:47.716 --> 0:13:50.916 Uh no, I'll usually I have like a tape machine, 0:13:50.996 --> 0:13:53.756 like I have like a four track task am like 0:13:53.796 --> 0:13:56.716 a porta studio that I'll use and I'll just put 0:13:56.796 --> 0:14:01.236 one mic and ta yeah, oh and I'll do yep. 0:14:01.316 --> 0:14:02.836 I make tapes of my demos. 0:14:03.596 --> 0:14:04.036 I like it. 0:14:04.196 --> 0:14:06.796 I think I'm a very scattered person. I put them 0:14:06.836 --> 0:14:10.716 into the computer obviously after where. But I like having 0:14:11.636 --> 0:14:15.116 knowing that there's just a pile of like physical tapes 0:14:15.156 --> 0:14:17.556 of all my stuff that I could go back to 0:14:17.716 --> 0:14:20.596 if I lost something or anything like that. 0:14:20.836 --> 0:14:23.636 But I didn't know you could even still buy those. 0:14:24.236 --> 0:14:24.796 Yeah, you can. 0:14:24.996 --> 0:14:27.036 You can buy cassettes. Yeah. No. 0:14:27.116 --> 0:14:28.956 I even the old task because it. 0:14:29.036 --> 0:14:31.596 Was oh yeah, no, there there, it was a used one. 0:14:32.116 --> 0:14:35.836 It's not new, Yeah, because famously that's what Springsteen did Nebraska. 0:14:36.556 --> 0:14:39.276 Yep, yeah, I'm from I mean, I'm from Nashville, so 0:14:39.316 --> 0:14:41.396 there's a lot of that stuff floating around. I feel 0:14:41.396 --> 0:14:43.556 like that's kind of something that a lot of people 0:14:43.676 --> 0:14:46.116 had and nobody wants anymore in Nashville, so you can 0:14:46.676 --> 0:14:47.636 you'll find a lot of those. 0:14:47.876 --> 0:14:52.876 Yeah, So what spurred the writing of this album. 0:14:54.396 --> 0:14:58.636 Most of the songs are about just a loss that 0:14:58.716 --> 0:15:01.276 I had in my life and kind of going through 0:15:01.356 --> 0:15:04.276 that process. They're not all about that, but there's a 0:15:04.356 --> 0:15:08.036 lot of that in the record, and I think that 0:15:08.156 --> 0:15:11.196 was really what kicks did you know? It's it's time 0:15:11.236 --> 0:15:14.436 to write about something different. I think every album, even 0:15:14.436 --> 0:15:18.276 if there's similarities, you know, you have all these themes 0:15:18.316 --> 0:15:21.356 and these ideas that you're stuck on for a while, 0:15:21.476 --> 0:15:24.476 and it takes time after the album is finished being 0:15:24.516 --> 0:15:28.996 made to kind of get your head off of writing 0:15:29.076 --> 0:15:32.036 more stuff that fits with this idea and move on 0:15:32.156 --> 0:15:36.196 to something new, even sonically, like just kind of what 0:15:36.316 --> 0:15:39.196 kind of vibe you're wanting? And em was the first 0:15:39.196 --> 0:15:41.636 song that I wrote for this album, and I think 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:45.076 it really felt like fresh and new compared to what 0:15:45.196 --> 0:15:47.476 I had been doing, and it was very clear to 0:15:47.636 --> 0:15:49.556 me what I was going to be doing for the 0:15:49.636 --> 0:15:50.596 next little bit of time. 0:15:51.956 --> 0:15:54.196 Was it a conscious thought, I've got to write about 0:15:54.236 --> 0:15:54.716 this loss. 0:15:55.636 --> 0:16:00.076 No, Honestly, I don't think writing is ever conscious for me. 0:16:00.196 --> 0:16:03.596 I think, you know, I sit around, I play guitar, 0:16:04.036 --> 0:16:07.716 and I don't really like to trying to think of 0:16:07.796 --> 0:16:10.596 how to the nicest word to put it, but I 0:16:10.756 --> 0:16:13.196 just like, I don't want to sit around and shred 0:16:13.356 --> 0:16:16.436 or learn other riffs or do stuff like that. I 0:16:16.476 --> 0:16:17.956 don't really do that. I just sit around and I 0:16:18.036 --> 0:16:21.156 play chords, and if I find something I like, I 0:16:21.236 --> 0:16:24.076 start writing a song with it. And I think the 0:16:24.196 --> 0:16:28.876 music inspires the you know, the theme of the song, 0:16:28.996 --> 0:16:32.476 the ideas behind the song, you get from music itself. 0:16:32.516 --> 0:16:34.876 You get a feeling and you can move off of that. 0:16:36.156 --> 0:16:39.556 And you mentioned the sound on this album, and for 0:16:39.676 --> 0:16:44.116 people who haven't heard your previous album sometimes forever they should. 0:16:44.276 --> 0:16:46.996 First of all, thanks, but it's a very lush album 0:16:47.036 --> 0:16:50.436 with a lot of studio effects, a lot of production. 0:16:51.476 --> 0:16:53.956 This one is is lush, but in a different way. 0:16:54.036 --> 0:16:56.956 It's got beautiful string arrangements, and I don't know how 0:16:57.036 --> 0:17:01.636 much you had to do with those particularly, but it 0:17:01.876 --> 0:17:05.516 feels a little more austere, a little more direct maybe 0:17:05.556 --> 0:17:08.316 than the previous album. What was the feeling you wanted 0:17:08.396 --> 0:17:08.996 from the record? 0:17:09.956 --> 0:17:12.196 I wanted that, honestly. I wanted it to feel direct. 0:17:13.036 --> 0:17:16.076 I think it being something really personal. I found that 0:17:16.156 --> 0:17:20.836 the last album was not unpersonal, but it wasn't as 0:17:20.916 --> 0:17:23.036 personal as some of my work has been in the past. 0:17:23.356 --> 0:17:26.116 And writing this album just felt like when I was 0:17:26.996 --> 0:17:30.276 I don't know, seventeen and writing songs to put on 0:17:30.396 --> 0:17:33.716 band camp, and it was very tender and intimate in 0:17:33.796 --> 0:17:35.556 a way that was a little bit uncomfortable. Like at 0:17:35.596 --> 0:17:38.276 that point in time, I didn't really want to share 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:41.636 music with people. I knew I might post it on Twitter, 0:17:41.716 --> 0:17:43.796 but I was not gonna publicize it. 0:17:44.036 --> 0:17:45.716 This is when you were seventeen. 0:17:45.836 --> 0:17:48.476 Yeah, when I was first starting like soccer mommy stuff 0:17:48.556 --> 0:17:51.436 and posting on band camp, it was very it was 0:17:51.516 --> 0:17:54.716 kind of secretive and private because it felt really personal. 0:17:55.236 --> 0:17:56.796 And it felt like that again, you know, it felt 0:17:56.876 --> 0:18:03.156 really really straightforward and personal, and the songs themselves, I 0:18:03.276 --> 0:18:06.236 just wanted it to be like that at the center, 0:18:06.396 --> 0:18:09.756 that really basic stripped back version like what I just played. 0:18:10.396 --> 0:18:12.276 I wanted that to be at the core of everything 0:18:12.596 --> 0:18:15.716 for every song, and there to be you know, accompaniment 0:18:15.836 --> 0:18:19.956 around it to help it blossom a bit. But I 0:18:20.036 --> 0:18:23.756 wanted to feel, yeah, just like light and airy and 0:18:24.516 --> 0:18:27.156 remind me of music that makes me feel like lifted 0:18:27.316 --> 0:18:31.996 and you know, feel emotional, but like light, like I'm 0:18:32.196 --> 0:18:35.436 riding the wind a little bit, which for me is 0:18:35.556 --> 0:18:39.516 like Emmy Lou Harris, Joni Mitchell, like that kind of 0:18:39.556 --> 0:18:41.676 stuff I listen to all the time when I'm feeling 0:18:41.716 --> 0:18:46.156 that way, or like Jankly like pop stuff that really 0:18:46.316 --> 0:18:49.516 just kind of you can feel it it feels so light. 0:18:51.116 --> 0:18:54.036 So the strings were part of that idea. I did 0:18:54.116 --> 0:18:57.836 not arrange the strings. The person who played the strings 0:18:57.916 --> 0:19:00.796 arranged the shrings and did an amazing job off of 0:19:00.956 --> 0:19:05.596 like notes. You know, yeah, I really I wanted strings 0:19:05.636 --> 0:19:08.396 and flute in particular on the record really really bad, 0:19:08.636 --> 0:19:11.876 and I was very specific about that because I think 0:19:11.916 --> 0:19:15.036 it's part of what pulled it together sonically. I think 0:19:15.076 --> 0:19:19.436 if there had been since or like melotrons and things 0:19:19.556 --> 0:19:22.636 like that, it would have just not had the same 0:19:22.876 --> 0:19:24.796 feeling to it. It really needed to be that like 0:19:25.036 --> 0:19:29.636 organic kind of sound that's a little bit imperfect. And 0:19:29.716 --> 0:19:33.356 Ben the producer found a flute player and found Raven 0:19:33.476 --> 0:19:38.916 who did the strings, who's in the UK, and he's amazing. 0:19:39.836 --> 0:19:40.036 Yeah. 0:19:40.236 --> 0:19:43.356 There, and there's very you know, particularly Evergreen, which is 0:19:43.436 --> 0:19:46.636 the last song, has a very different string sound. I'm 0:19:46.636 --> 0:19:49.476 not sure it's even a solo string, but it's violin. 0:19:49.556 --> 0:19:52.996 But it's it's got really lovely textures throughout. 0:19:53.196 --> 0:19:55.916 Yeah, it's a haunting. I think we had mentioned like 0:19:56.036 --> 0:20:01.036 Johnny Greenwood type of thing, and he really took to it. 0:20:01.156 --> 0:20:04.316 It just sounds, you know, a little eerie, a little haunting. 0:20:04.396 --> 0:20:08.156 Those kind of stretches between chords, I think really bring 0:20:08.236 --> 0:20:08.716 it to life. 0:20:09.996 --> 0:20:12.756 We'll be right back with more from Soccer Mommy after 0:20:12.836 --> 0:20:18.836 the break. We're back with Soccer Mommy. 0:20:20.076 --> 0:20:24.796 So let's go back before you press send on band 0:20:24.916 --> 0:20:28.796 camp or upload. I guess you're born in Switzerland, right, 0:20:29.116 --> 0:20:33.196 but you grew up Nashville, Nashville, okay, and your was 0:20:33.276 --> 0:20:34.116 your family musical? 0:20:35.996 --> 0:20:39.316 You know, My parents are not super musical. My dad 0:20:39.436 --> 0:20:43.916 does play guitars as like a hobby. My grandma was 0:20:43.956 --> 0:20:46.636 a pianist, but I didn't really know her, so I 0:20:46.756 --> 0:20:51.356 definitely didn't get it from family, you know, forcing me 0:20:51.516 --> 0:20:52.996 to do it or anything. I was kind of the 0:20:53.036 --> 0:20:55.116 first one in the family when I was really young 0:20:55.196 --> 0:20:57.236 to be like, I want to play music, and then 0:20:57.276 --> 0:20:58.596 all my siblings kind of did too. 0:20:59.316 --> 0:21:01.076 Are you where are you in the family order? 0:21:01.316 --> 0:21:03.716 I'm middle, I have an older sister and I have 0:21:03.796 --> 0:21:04.396 a younger brother. 0:21:04.636 --> 0:21:09.636 Okay, And then what was there a particular song or 0:21:10.476 --> 0:21:13.236 memory you have of music growing up that piqued your interest? 0:21:14.556 --> 0:21:16.636 Yeah, I don't. I don't even know what started it, 0:21:16.756 --> 0:21:19.036 to be honest, I know that the first music that 0:21:19.116 --> 0:21:22.316 I was listening to was like my dad's CD collection, 0:21:22.516 --> 0:21:27.236 which was, like, we all really liked The Who and Springsteen, 0:21:28.196 --> 0:21:30.236 so he had CDs of that, like greatest Hits that 0:21:30.276 --> 0:21:32.076 we would listen to a lot. And I always really 0:21:32.116 --> 0:21:34.316 loved Springsteen. I still do love Springsteen. 0:21:35.516 --> 0:21:36.956 Do you love Springsteen from your music? 0:21:37.276 --> 0:21:37.476 Yeah? 0:21:37.516 --> 0:21:40.796 I know it's not it's not exactly an obvious pull, 0:21:40.876 --> 0:21:44.196 but I think he's just such an amazing songwriter. Honestly, 0:21:44.276 --> 0:21:49.076 I think he for something that's kind of like macho, like, 0:21:50.156 --> 0:21:54.156 kind of like greaser manly energy. A lot of the time, 0:21:54.316 --> 0:21:57.156 his lyrics can be so beautiful. I think they paint 0:21:57.276 --> 0:22:01.276 such vivid pictures in my mind of like stuff that 0:22:01.836 --> 0:22:07.796 just reflects I think American you know, small town not 0:22:07.876 --> 0:22:11.276 even small town, but just not big city type of life, 0:22:11.436 --> 0:22:15.036 like just certain like normalcies that really, you know, paint 0:22:15.076 --> 0:22:15.876 a beautiful picture. 0:22:16.236 --> 0:22:19.316 Was there a song in particular that that you liked 0:22:19.396 --> 0:22:19.556 of his? 0:22:20.436 --> 0:22:23.196 I've always loved I'm on Fire. When I was younger, 0:22:23.236 --> 0:22:25.956 I loved thunder Road. I still love that one. I 0:22:25.996 --> 0:22:30.916 think the entire like opening lyrical part of that song 0:22:31.116 --> 0:22:35.236 is absolutely amazing. But yeah, it was a lot of hits, 0:22:35.316 --> 0:22:37.756 so it was like the hit boring in the USA, 0:22:37.876 --> 0:22:41.276 you know, hearing that kind of stuff. Hungry Heart was great, 0:22:41.436 --> 0:22:44.516 but but yeah, I always loved that kind of stuff. 0:22:44.556 --> 0:22:46.236 I think that was the first thing that really made 0:22:46.316 --> 0:22:50.596 me love music that in like early two thousand's pop 0:22:51.316 --> 0:22:53.756 from I was like five or six years old, so 0:22:54.316 --> 0:22:55.556 that kind of stuff was really big. 0:22:55.756 --> 0:22:57.876 And what was what was your first instrument? 0:22:58.356 --> 0:22:58.676 Guitar? 0:22:59.116 --> 0:23:01.916 It was okay, yeah, And did you take lessons or 0:23:01.956 --> 0:23:03.356 did you just sit down with one? 0:23:03.396 --> 0:23:06.876 One day I sat started with me sitting down with one. 0:23:08.076 --> 0:23:13.076 I had gone to a like charity concert for my 0:23:13.156 --> 0:23:16.316 brother's preschool and gotten a toy guitar, and I played 0:23:16.356 --> 0:23:20.396 that a lot. It sounded awful, and after enough time 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:22.116 my parents were like, okay, let's get like, you know, 0:23:22.156 --> 0:23:26.156 a little baby who's to guitar? And I just loved it. 0:23:26.316 --> 0:23:30.276 So I took lessons for a lot of my life, 0:23:30.396 --> 0:23:35.556 you know, just casually took guitar lessons and just always 0:23:35.636 --> 0:23:39.276 really liked it. But particularly for the songwriting. I liked 0:23:39.356 --> 0:23:41.876