• News

• All

Jul 02, 2020 By Samantha Small Photography by Soccer Mommy credit: Brian Ziff / SASAMI credit: Courtesy of Artist System of a Down

Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison) has stayed busy over quarantine. Along with an 8-bit animated tour, a club penguin set (yes, really) she launched the Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series (via Bandcamp) with big name acts such as Jay Som, Beabadoobee, and Gentle Dom (a.k.a. Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT). Today, her final installment finds her teaming up with SASAMI. Listen to Allison’s cover of The Cars’ “Drive” and SASAMI’s cover of System of a Down’s “Toxicity” below.

The net profits from the series will go to Oxfam’s COVID-19 relief fund and National Bail Out. The orgs, respectively, help combat both COVID-19 and police brutality and systematic racism. In addition, Oxfam has an anonymous donor who will match every dollar raised by this series up to $5000.

“I’m really glad to get to release this cover of ‘Drive,’” Allison said in a press release. “It’s a song I’ve loved for a long time that I started covering pretty recently. It was nice to get to record one last thing in the studio before everything shut down.”

SASAMI adds: “The choice of covering System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’ wasn’t really a deep one, but I do believe that now is a time of acuity in identifying the toxicity in our society. Toni Cade Bambara said ‘The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible,’ and I’m definitely seeking the kind of art that centers that focus.”

It’s not the first time Soccer Mommy has covered “Drive,” she also did a version for SiriusXMU in May.

Soccer Mommy released a new album, color theory, in February via Loma Vista, the follow-up to Allison’s debut full-length album, Clean, released in 2018 via Fat Possum. It was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2018. Gabe Wax produced the album (he also produced Clean), which was written on tour and recorded in Nashville at Alex The Great. Lars Stalfors mixed the album, which features the live Soccer Mommy band on studio recordings for the first time. The album title and song titles are all intended to be written in lowercase.

Last November SASAMI surprise-released a new holiday-themed EP, lil drmr bb, that included a track “It’s You” and covers of Christmas classics “Little Drummer Boy” and “Silent Night.” “It’s You” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our 2018 interview with Soccer Mommy on Clean.

Read our Pleased to Meet You interview with SASAMI.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.