Arlo Parks – ‘My Soft Machine’
How to avoid a hangover: if you’re drinking, make sure to balance the pints with a few glasses of water, don’t forget the Advil before bed, and make sure there’s some spicy food on hand for the morning. If you’re trying to follow up on a massive debut album, hone in on the traits that make you a unique artist and try to push the boundaries of genre and style so it doesn’t seem like you’re repeating yourself. Sounds easy, right? Well, it is…if you’re Arlo Parks.
The 22-year-old British singer-songwriter got off to an amazing start with her 2021 debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams. After winning that year’s Mercury Prize and charting inside the top five of the UK Album Charts, Parks released the non-album single ‘Softly’ in 2022 and formed a collaborative partnership with Phoebe Bridgers. She never had a problem bending genres to her own will, taking elements of soul, folk, rap, jazz and indie pop and filtering them through her singular voice. But could Parks manage to top the massive success of Collapsed in Sunbeams?
Not quite, but My Soft Machine comes pretty damn close. If nothing else, Parks seems happier, healthier, and more introspective than she ever has before. She’s eating cheese fed to her by her partner in ‘Bruiseless’. She’s radiating positive energy and embracing her flaws on ‘Impurities’. She’s letting the summer shine on ‘Puppy’. But don’t be fooled – those songs come with plenty of barbed edges as well. Lost mothers, abuse, and insecurities all fold into Parks’ lyrics. If My Soft Machine proves anything, it’s that Parks is still reeling you in to listen as closely as possible.
Musically, My Soft Machine features some of the same hallmarks of Parks’ debut: a mix of lo-fi and chillwave beats bumping up against jazzy chord progressions and laidback drum loops. Buzzy keyboards come into frame on ‘Blades’, while hairy guitar-heavy indie rock fuels the breakdown section of ‘Devotion’. It’s a wider scope, but Parks’ gentle voice keeps things relatively grounded and familiar. It’s a careful balance of pushing boundaries and staying consistent, with the occasional misstep to balance out the insights and artistic progressions.
Some tough questions remain: is there anything here as tragically masterful as ‘Black Dog’? Are any of the tracks as immediately memorable as ‘Eugene’? The truth is that My Soft Machine is less of a crowd-pleasing album than its predecessor, with fewer hooks and more of an emphasis on artistic movement in new directions.
That being said, Parks is still a one-of-one artist here. ‘Purple Phase’ is as cinematic as anything that the singer has ever written, and it’s followed by the album’s best pop single, ‘Weightless’. Parks keeps her foot on the gas with the Bridgers collaboration ‘Pegasus’ before diving into one of the album’s most accessible tracks, ‘Dog Rose’. The warm embrace of love is balanced out with plenty of low ebbs, including the lack of trust on ‘I’m Sorry’ and the scars that are still present on ‘Room (red wings)’. But the latter track ultimately pulls the darkness away by focusing on the simple joys: “I just want to eat cake in a room with a view.”
Parks certainly has a nice view from where she’s currently sitting. Although it’s not quite as natural and impactful on the first listen as Collapsed in Sunbeams was, My Soft Machine nevertheless reads like a new chapter from a master writer. Everything that made fans fall in love with Parks is present here, from the creative beats to the gut-wrenching honesty in her words. Parks has proven that being happy doesn’t mean that you have to be content. Her artistic vision is just as potent, if not more so than ever, within the notes and words of My Soft Machine.
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