Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson joins Arlo Parks in California ahead of the launch of her forthcoming second album ‘My Soft Machine’, out this Friday (26th May). Arlo discusses meeting Tyler, the Creator and his influence on her, the creative process when making the album and shares details on her tracks ‘Bruiseless’ and ‘Devotion’. She also talks about relocating to California, how personal relationships influence the direction of her music and shares that she has written about her girlfriend, Ashnikko.
Arlo Parks on meeting Tyler, the Creator…
I can't explain how special that moment was for me. I think there's a generation of young Black people who were creating things that sat outside of the mold of what was expected. And Odd Future and that group of people were such a beacon. And I feel like Tyler's... His artistry, his ability to go into the world of fashion and film and comedy and just be this restless creative force, I just... Yeah, it was an amazing moment, for sure. (...) It took a long time for him to build his way into the world of the mainstream. For a long time, he was very much on the fringes of things, and I think that he taught a generation of people that you can just do your own thing. And maybe for a long time people aren't going to get it, but eventually when they do, you become a figurehead of something else and you've created your own table.
Arlo Parks on relocating to California…
I just listen to demos and just really try and sit with them completely outside of the context of the studio or the car or the city. I feel like I can just get a clarity that you can't really get in the city. For me, especially being in California and it being a completely different landscape, I think that's made me a lot more curious about going outside, going up to Big Bear, going to the desert, taking road trips.
Arlo Parks on the creative process when making her new album…
Making this record was almost the polar opposite to making the first one in terms of me having to create it in one to two-week little pools of time in between tours. Like, 120-plus shows last year and I somehow still managed to make a record. And I think when I was making Collapsed in Sunbeams, a lot of it was about the storytelling and the coming-of-age stories and the observation because I was almost craving that sense of escape. So I was thinking about the stories and the people and the energy of before. And then when I was making this second record, there was such a sense of turbulence and being highly perceived and very much out in the world that I very much went inward. And I very much wanted to just look myself in the eyes and process slowly and understand what I was healing from and just write from the perspective of me.
Arlo Parks on writing about Ashnikko…
Yeah, I have. And that's been hard. I feel like when it comes to my relationship, I say all I want to say in the music and then I have to explain other details. But sometimes, I'm just like... I don't know. I think it's worth it. You know? You have to celebrate the important things in your life. I'm not going to not write about her because people are going to ask me questions.
Arlo Parks on introspection in songwriting…
I think it is scary because I think that the way we move through life, you rarely actually get a second to stop and sit with yourself. I was thinking about myself and I was thinking about the friendships that I had made and the curiosity that I had about the world and love and my sensitivity and how I found myself to be quite a perceptive person and how I loved people, but then there was also things surrounding anxiety and sadness and numbness and feeling lost, feeling placeless. And so it became this record of light and shade, and I just wanted to reflect the fact that that's what being a human is, is that balance.
Arlo Parks on the creation of her song ‘Bruiseless’...
Yeah, I made it in my childhood bedroom. I can't remember what it was, why I decided to, but I have these weird lightning bolts, these moments almost compulsive where I'm like, "I have to make something." And I just found that little synth and I was like, "Hmm." I think also, I'd been listening to a lot of Kendrick's music, and it was actually quite recently. It was when this new album came out, and I was thinking about the simplicity of some of those beats, just speaking over quite a simple soundbed and just being really clear about what you mean.
Arlo Parks on how her personal relationships influence the direction of projects…
Yeah, I think it definitely does change things. And I think then you look back at the previous work through the lens of being in love with a new person, and that does just change the way that you see things. But definitely, I think having an anchor there and having a person in the same way that whether it's a relationship or a new friendship, someone that really grounds you, I definitely think that it changes. For some reason, I feel like it allows me to experiment more and be more playful with things because I almost have the safety net of another person who really cares about me. I don't know if that's weird, but it's how I feel.
Arlo Parks on the creation of the track Devotion…
It took no time at all to get there because I was just with my friends. I was with Romil in bed, and we just made a little band for the day. And I'd always wanted to make a song like that, but I just didn't have the courage. And both of them were like, "Literally, why not?" And I was like, "You're right, actually. There's no reason why not." And I actually saw Deftones the night I finished it with Paul at Kentish Town in front of a couple thousand people with Chino just ripping it in his little jeans. It was great. And yeah, I think those moments happened so quickly and by accident, but it felt so natural. There was such a sense of organicness to the way that every song came about, really, on this album.
