Aggressive Soccer Moms are here with their seventh studio album ‘Quint’. Full of characteristically neat ideas, quirky performances, and surprising twists, ‘Quint’ is an unlikely stunner that starts on a strange foot but quickly grows on you. Sometime close to the third of its runtime, I started to get really attached to the sound and style of Aggressive Soccer Moms.
Hailing From the Swedish capital Stockholm, Aggressive Soccer Moms is an accomplished band of experimental, lo-fi punk and rock. They can be easily defined by the surprising hostility of lead vocalist Thomas Wahlstrom’s delivery. On ‘Quint’ the band has expanded from a duo to a trio. Anders Bergstrom, Thomas Wahlstrom, and new addition Stefan Wistrand.
Quint is a hazy album of bustling synth drones, programmed beats, and tasty saxophone leads. The fusion of punk influence, as witnessed in the front man’s edgy and often violent delivery, with delicate and charismatic saxophone lines is a delicious one that stands out as one of Aggressive Soccer Mom’s winning cards.
From serene to absolutely bonkers, ‘Quint’ is an expansive, instrumental album that’s not afraid of veering way off the beaten path. Following in the footsteps of the similar, also Swedish Viagra Boys, we have cuts like the challenging ‘Why’, which is a five-minute freight train of hardcore punk. One-chord song, with a single word for lyrics, the band goes absolutely crazy with sax solos, busy rhythms, and disturbing vocals. Experimental cuts like ‘why’ define Aggressive Soccer Moms as a band that’s uniquely bold. With lyrics full of social commentary on modern and daily lives, the singing comes across as uniquely scathing and devoid of emotion, and it helps that the style of delivery is aggressive and careless, a point that I believe makes the words even more poignant and delivers their meaning with more punch.
The sophomore cut ‘I Call Her Happy’ has a synth bass line, a drum machine-generated groove, and a lengthy, improvised saxophone sole, making this cut be like it would feel right at home on one of Bowie’s sleeper 80s albums. ‘That’s How I feel’ has a sleazy sax riff on top of a wistful chord progression. The titular yell in the outro, as it gets progressively more intense, is one of the album’s most unforgettable passages. The experimental synth wave vibes of ‘Darling’ paint quite a despondent relationship, and the lo-fi music brings the point home. But in essence, the song is one of the album’s most catchy and standout sounds, and the sudden burst of distorted guitar in a blinding solo section was one of the album’s freshest surprises.
Ultimately, Aggressive Soccer Mom’s seventh studio album ‘Quint’ brings us more of the band’s spur-of-the-moment songwriting, and honest performances and deliveries. The addition of Stefan Winstrand brings a fresh sound and dimension to the group’s music, making ‘Quint’ one of the group’s richest and most adventurous albums to this date.
