Secret Meeting score: 82
by Martin Ramsbottom
Shorter than some LPs, 56 minutes was all the time taken by Nashville native Sophie Allison – known as Soccer Mommy – to showcase her talents to a sold out and cramped Manchester audience. The two set-openers, Try and Henry, lifted from the albums, For Young Hearts and Collection respectively, pass by as pretty – if not formulaic – dorm-rock whose merit lies solely with the verve in which Soccer Mommy and her band run through these old songs.
However, the contrast – both in melodic strength and lyrical acuity – becomes evident when the set moves principally into songs from this year’s debut studio album, Clean. Both Last Girl and Cool are slacker rock numbers straight out of the DeMarcoian school, and sit effortlessly among the achingly beautiful and perceptive, Flaw and Still Clean.
In a cramped club like The Deaf Institute, Soccer Mommy and her band look impossibly young. This would be a marvel in itself if music fans hadn’t been treated to the likes of Stella Donnelly and Lindsey Jordan already in 2018. Yet a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire – the evening’s highlight – is delivered with such delicate subtlety that it is clear this talent is no longer raw and is already developing beyond precociousness.
On tonight’s showing, it is not hard to see why Clean may stay the course on may end of 2018 lists. Live, this collection of songs don’t bloom, but reinforce their bluntness and brevity – and that seats Soccer Mommy comfortably amongst peers of Liz Phair and burgeoning talents like Stella Donnelly.
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