The Guest List | Soccer Mommy
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The Guest List is a regular book column that surveys the reading habits of some of our favorite musicians. For this edition we spoke with Nashville-based songwriter/guitar-slinger Sophie Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy. Her latest release, Sometimes, Forever, came out in June and manages to sound both dreamy and edgy as hell. We recently caught up with Sophie to find out what she’s been reading lately.
SwR: What’s a book you read early in life that influenced you as an artist?
Sophie Allison: I remember reading [John Knowles’s] A Separate Peace in high school and thinking the writing was really beautiful. It’s a coming-of-age story about friendship, jealousy, betrayal, and mistakes that change you forever. The language has a romantic tone to it—lots of lyrical passages about nature and the main character’s inner thoughts. That kind of romanticism has always been something I look for in writing, and I think it’s reflected in my lyrics.
SwR: Are there any particular authors or books that inspired the writing on Sometimes, Forever?
SA: I reread Frankenstein before we recorded and loved its mixture of romanticism and horror. The novel is obviously a tale of terror, but the writing style—how it blends vivid descriptions of scenery with the intense emotional perspective of the narrator—really makes it special. When I wrote “Following Eyes,” I wanted to capture an eerie atmosphere like that.
SwR: “Following Eyes” can be read as a ghost story, and references to demons, witchcraft, and vampires pop up in various profiles written about you. Do you find yourself reading a lot of books that deal with Gothic or horror themes?
SA: I love reading horror! I like horror short stories especially. I have several books by H.P. Lovecraft that I love to read through. “Call of Cthulhu” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” are both great—creepy, supernatural tales that leave you wondering what else could be looming out there in the world.
SwR: There’s a line from “Darkness Forever” that alludes to Sylvia Plath committing suicide by sticking her head in an oven. Can you talk a bit about what Plath’s writing has meant to you?
SA: Sylvia Plath is amazing. She has such a relatable voice that stands out to so many young women who have dealt with darkness. The Bell Jar especially speaks to being young and lost and feeling totally hopeless when it comes to the future. I’ve definitely been there, and I’m sure a lot of other people have as well.
SwR: Any bookstores you’d care to shout out?
SA: I love McKay’s and Half Price Books in Nashville!
SwR: What’s the last really good book you read?
SA: I recently finished Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and really loved it. It builds such an amazing futuristic world of nanotechnology. It has so many interesting ideas about tech and the future, but it also tells an emotionally moving story about a young girl and all that makes her into the woman she becomes. A great sci-fi read—I totally recommend it.
The Guest List | Hayden Pedigo
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