Arlo Parks picks her favourite Deftones track
Arlo Parks has already made waves in the music industry despite being just 22 years old. Having started making music just five years ago, gaining traction by uploading to BBC Introducing and eventually signing to Transgressive Records, in 2021, Parks released her debut album, titled Collapsed in Sunbeams. The album was characterised by Parks’ distinctively soft, youthful voice, personal lyrics, and summery instrumentals.
Discussing the creation of the album, Parks shared her lyrical process during an interview with The Talks, noting that she’s naturally very open. She said: “It’s part of who I am and I don’t think it will ever dwindle. Privacy is of course very important to me and I have to maintain that boundary between my personal life and the artistry… But then it comes to my writing, I can never come up. I can never write about something that isn’t touching that really raw, exposed part of myself. So I don’t think that will ever change.”
Collapsed in Sunbeams gained the breakout star a Mercury Prize win later that year. From there, she went on to support the likes of Harry Styles and Billie Eilish and appeared at Glastonbury 2022. Her most recent album, My Soft Machine, was released just last week and retains her raw, vulnerable lyricism. The album even features fellow indie soft girl Phoebe Bridgers on a track.
In a recent interview for Amoeba, Parks revealed some of her favourite records. Amidst Mort Garson’s Plantasia, Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie and Lowell, and Sophie’s Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Unsides, she, perhaps unexpectedly, picks out Deftones’ 2000 album White Pony which she deems “iconic”.
The third studio album by the alternative nu-metal band, White Pony was met with great critical acclaim and was reissued just a few years ago for its 20th anniversary. With contemporary mainstream pop incorporating elements of 1990s nu-metal and the impending renaissance of the genre, it’s actually quite fitting that Arlo Parks is a fan.
She names her favourite track from the album as ‘Digital Bath’, stating: “I think the drums on there and the warmth and how relentless the instruments are, but then how sweeping Chino’s voice is and that marriage is something that’s always really moved me. Brings me back to my angsty teen years, just being like ‘no one gets it’.”
Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno told Revolver Magazine that ‘Digital Bath’ was a turning point in the album’s production, recalling: “It was at night and I was just driving through Hollywood, I was just thinking to myself, ‘This sounds futuristic to me. There’s little elements of things that I love, but it sounds like something new’. And we just made it an hour ago. So there was a feeling of accomplishment. I sort of felt like, yeah, we’re onto something.”
With Gen Z’s renewed interest in older genres, thanks to the accessibility of the internet and the unpredictability of TikTok trends, Deftones have seen a recent renewed interest from a younger audience. And while Park’s soft, liquid indie is almost the polar opposite of Deftones’ alternative metal, her musical influences and interests prove wide-ranging.
