FEATURE:
My Artist of 2020
Arlo Parks
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I am going to do a few end-of-year features…
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Kurunis for AnOther
before 2020 is done, as it is good to do a round-up and mark a strange-yet-remarkable year for music. Whilst there are polls and publications nominating artists to look out for in 2021 – I will do something like that soon -, I wanted to reflect on the year and represent the artist who, I think, has made the biggest impression. In terms of promise for 2021 and what she has put out in 2020, I feel that Arlo Parks has stood out the most. Her debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams, is out on 29th January…and it will be one of the most-anticipated of next year. On last year’s E.P., Super Sad Generation, Parks produced a truly extraordinary collection of tracks. This is what Vinyl Chapters said:
“On her ravishing debut, Super Sad Generation, Parks weaves a series of lovelorn, stark and mournful narratives around her wistful, beguiling and softly-spoken croon, slippery drum sounds, flu-sick flecks of vinyl static and digitised tweeting, deftly painting pictures with words. Themes of mental illness, economic instability, raging desire and heartbreak illuminate a taut set whose myriad charms and saturnine depths proliferate with repeated exposure.
The lyrics of the title track exemplify the disorderliness and tumult portrayed throughout a record whose currency is that of getting wasted, falling in and out of love and holding out for optimism amidst the enveloping gloom: “When did we get so skinny/Started doing ketamine on weekends/ Getting wasted at the station/Trying to keep our friends from death”.
The morose lope of Sophie and the prettily acoustic Angel’s Song are stand-outs of an album which operates as a canvas for the ominous and unsettling outpourings of a self-described outsider, a loner who started off moulding scratchy spoken-word pieces which morphed into fully-formed nuggets of lo-fi pop. Elliptical traces of Portishead, Denai Moore, Lily Allen and Corinne Bailey Rae hover into view intermittently, but this is very much the work of a fascinating and singular talent. Beset by a wounded insecurity that’s both pained and intoxicating, Arlo Parks has created a brilliantly tense and brooding record in Sweet Sad Generation”.
I am going to bring in a couple of interviews that Park conducted, as she is an artist who has grown and is looking forward to a (let’s hope!) great 2021. I think her album will garner a lot of attention and love and, with singles such as Caroline, and Green Eyes really sticking in the mind, I am really looking forward to hearing Collapsed in Sunbeams! Independent Venue Week takes place in January and, in one of the most important years, Arlo Parks has been named as its Ambassador. Even though artists have not been able to perform live much this year, I have seen a couple of streams where Parks has delivered her songs in a somewhat different setting. She can create chills and incredible reactions whether she is in front of a crowd or almost alone in a room. I know she will be keen to get on the road and perform as soon as it is safe.
Parks recently spoke with Shannon Mahanty of AnOther - she was asked about her lyrical inspirations and what it has been like putting a debut album together during such a challenging year:
“SM: The opening line of the song is about watching a couple fight while waiting for the bus, are you much of a people-watcher? How does the behaviour of strangers inform your music?
AP: I write from a personal perspective, but sometimes seeing something in the street like that will spark something that reminds me of my own experiences. Caroline was the first time I’d written about strangers, generally I’m inspired by the things that have happened to me or the people close to me, but I do watch people; even facial expressions or clothes can be the start of something.
I wrote Caroline during lockdown, in March. I remembered having seen this couple having a fight outside Hammersmith Broadway, near where I live. It was really difficult to know without context whether that was an explosion that might happen monthly or whether that fight was the end for that couple and that’s kind of the point of the song. The ambiguity really interested me. I was listening to a lot of Radiohead – In Rainbows and Hail to the Thief – and The Streets, particularly their first album, Original Pirate Material. That idea of storytelling really came through.
SM: Your lyrics tend to stand out for their emotional frankness. What do you attribute that quality to?
AP: I’ve always been quite a direct person. As kids if we were ever sulking or upset about something, my parents would always say, “What’s happened? Tell us how you feel.” I always found that really helpful; talking something through and vocalising what’s wrong. I’ve found that internalising things just makes them come up in uglier ways further down the line, so it’s definitely something I’ve tried to maintain throughout my life.
SM: How has the pandemic impacted work on your debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams?
AP: The reason why it was so helpful was really being able to sit with my thoughts and really think about what message I want to put forward and what I wanted it to sound like, because I’ve never written an album before. Having that extra time really gave me space to breathe and to experiment as well.
I think Collapsed in Sunbeams is definitely a product of its environment, but I guess I’ll never know whether I would have done this anyway. We kept the same method in terms of getting an Airbnb and writing and recording in there. I approached it very much song by song, I would just wake up and say OK, I’ve been listening to Nick Drake or I’ve been listening to Portishead; let’s do something like that today. I tried to not put pressure on myself. I was very concerned before the pandemic about finding a thread and knowing what the concept was going to be, but having space allowed me to just focus on each song as it came”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Waespi for W Magazine
One of the most evident and touching elements of Arlo Parks’ work is her sense of empathy and warmth. I think a lot of songwriters project from a personal place, but the songs can often by quite detached or they lack a certain sense of understanding of others. Even though Parks (on her website) says that her tender and confessional style of music is inspired by Portishead and Earl Sweatshirt, I think that people in general motivate her work and feed into every note. I want to grab from an interview from The Guardian, where we get some explanation as to why Parks’ music has that warmth; we also learn how Parks processes her thoughts when things get too much:
“She calls this her superpower, even if it does leave her spent. “Sometimes I’m just giving, and giving to people who aren’t always deserving. But I’ve learned to listen and approach people without judgment. I’ve had so many conversations with so many different kinds of people – it’s opened my heart, which is useful when I’m writing songs.”
“This skill was something she adopted from her parents, whom she describes as “extroverted, warm people”. Her father is from Nigeria, while her mother was born in France. Growing up, she says, “we were always encouraged to talk about our feelings. That sense of transparency, that sense of unconditional acceptance, was instilled in me very young. I feel grateful because not everyone has that. There was nothing that was seen as too small or shameful to discuss.”
That openness is manifested in her music. Parks says she always understood her bisexuality to be part of herself. Her song Eugene is about falling in love with a straight best friend, but explores the confusion and jealousy of the situation without shame or self-castigation.
When it does all get too much, meditating and writing a journal help Parks to process things, as does her team, filled “with women and people from different backgrounds, as that’s what makes me feel held”. The journals also remind her why she writes songs. “I found one from when I was 13 and it said: ‘I want to make music because I want to help people’,” she says. “When you approach the world with such vulnerability and openness, people return that energy. It’s draining, but it fills me with a purpose. I wouldn’t trade it for anything”.
I would advise people to order a copy of Collapsed in Sunbeams, as there are some familiar tracks (Black Dog, Eugene, Caroline, Green Eyes) sitting alongside some songs we have not yet heard. After such a bad year, it will be great to have Arlo Parks’ debut album out there! I think her singles, live performances and words have moved so many people, and she is an artist who will dominate 2021. It may seem like things are at their peak when it comes to Parks and the love she will receive but, really, things have…
ONLY just begun.