Arlo Parks is finding her feet on the dancefloor with ‘Heaven’
Great artists evolve; that much has always been clear.
Never resting on the laurels laid out by their previous album, great artists continually seek to step outside of their comfort zone and achieve music innovation. But while shapeshifting is an obvious and well-trodden path to greatness, its execution requires a whole load of focus to ensure an artist doesn’t descend into a pit of gimmicky failures.
As a Mercury Prize winner with her debut album, Arlo Parks was as susceptible to that trap as anyone in the music business. Being thrust into stardom with an album that was honest, personal and intimate is inevitably a tricky landscape and to a degree, places an albatross of expectation around an artist’s neck. So naturally, a sense of artistic evolution was needed for whatever follow-up may come.
With a four-year hiatus, rightly taken to ease a mental health decline that came as a result of touring, Parks has now returned with a renewed sense of liberation that thrives in the new dance soundscape she has created. The first single of the return ‘2SIDED’ showcased it with a poppier approach that cautioned us of this new era, but the follow-up ‘Heaven’ shows that there is in fact life in this new electronic era.
Inspired by jaunts to LA, where Parks immersed herself in the late-night scene, the song is designed to capture “euphoria, community and staying present”, according to Parks. She continued, explaining that “Being in a room full of strangers sweating, connecting, losing and finding themselves is a kind of magic that’s beyond language. This song was my attempt at capturing that feeling.”
‘Heaven’ captures that feeling far better than the album’s preceding single. There’s an atmospheric warmth to the track that ultimately lends itself to the immersive escapism those experiences create, and the driving sub-bass in the song keeps you firmly placed in those realms.
Where this evolution works is on her vocals. ‘2SIDED’ had us slightly worried that Parks was contorting her voice to fit the style of what she thought a pop vocalist should sound like. Whereas ‘Heaven’ she has leaned back into the delicacy that made it so compelling on her alternative debut album, yet feels like the perfect counterpoint on this heavier, underground sound.
This is a bold step forward for Parks, who, in simply trying to diversify her sound, proves she is focused on creating greatness. And if that greatness supposedly lies in the swampy worlds of underground dance, then ‘Heaven’ might help her get there.
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