Perhaps the intensity of my courses has me feeling a bit overwhelmed. Saturday morning, I got a bit verklempt listening to Eugene and Maurice (The Burning Hell) and reading about the death of Nigel the gannet. Then while having lunch at Portuguese steak-house Porta Nova, I asked after a few regular servers that I haven't seen in a while including today. It turned out that it was simply due to the vagaries of shift scheduling. But one of them was in fact doing her last shift that night and returning to Portugal. Her work visa has expired and she missed her family back home. The timing of it got me feeling melancholic again.
So I was in the perfect mood for the dreamy indie rock of Soccer Mommy at The Opera House. A packed house cheered for opener Kevin Krauter whose proud parents came from Indiana for the show. His laconic voice moseyed over songs that exuded a stoner chill vibe. A couple of new numbers had a bit more oomph. A cover of Weezer's Island In The Sun ended his set on a sing-along. Given the age of the crowd, this was unironically Dad Rock territory.
It looks like Toronto has embraced Soccer Mommy like Japanese Breakfast. For both performers, Toronto was their biggest audience yet. For the face of bedroom pop (her album landed on several best of the year lists), Sophie Allison led her band to a surprisingly rocking start. It was a richer, fuller sound tonight than her last visit. Combined with her delicate voice, this gave a Lana del Rey vibe to songs like Blossom (Wasting All My Time). Yet it was just her and her guitar halfway through the set on Allison, Still Clean, and Bruce Springsteen's Fire that was the highlight. Soccer Mommy will likely continue to reach a bigger fan-base with a new album in the works.
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