Soccer Mommy – “Drive” (The Cars Cover) & SASAMI – “Toxicity” (System Of A Down Cover)
Soccer Mommy released the great sophomore album color theory earlier this year, just before everything went to shit. Since she can’t tour behind it, she’s been doing something else: A series of split releases with friends that sends all proceeds to Oxfam’s COVID-19 relief fund and National Bail Out. In the Soccer Mommy & Friends series, Sophie Allison has already teamed up with MGMT, Jay Som, and Beabadoobee. Today, she and SASAMI — Artist To Watch Sasami Ashworth, the former Cherry Glazerr member who now records stark and vulnerable DIY music — have shared their own respective covers of two very different radio-rock bangers.
For her contribution, Soccer Mommy has covered the Cars’ synthy, romantic 1984 smash “Drive.” Sophie Allison already covered “Drive” as part of a live session for SiriusXMU just before quarantine. Her studio-recorded version translates the wounded gloss of the original into muffled, seams-showing indie rock. But in Soccer Mommy’s version, the sighing sweep and the big melodies of the original remain firmly intact.
For her part, SASAMI has ventured even further afield, applying her voice to System Of A Down, a band that’s been in the news lately. In covering SOAD’s jittery, concussive 2001 blast “Toxicity,” SASAMI has transformed it into a hushed, ghostly hymn. It’s a radical remake with its own sort of magic. Below, listen to the Soccer Mommy and SASAMI covers and check out the videos for the original Cars and System Of A Down tracks.
The complete Soccer Mommy & Friends project is out now, and you can get it at Bandcamp.