“A colossal talent” – Vogue
“Parks achieves an emotional resonance that’s unflinchingly sincere” – Rolling Stone
“No wonder she is being talked about as one of the voices of her generation” – The Times
“A sunny, spacious record fizzing with the promise of new love” – The Guardian
Twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning artist Arlo Parks has today shared the new single from her second album My Soft Machine; ‘Pegasus’, made with close friend and collaborator Phoebe Bridgers. A delicate and beautiful ballad, the track is the penultimate taster of Arlo’s new record before its release on 26th May.
Speaking about the song, she says “Pegasus is about experiencing the warmth and lightness of good love for the first time. It also explores how the absence of chaos and the presence of real connection can be a little bit terrifying after a long time of not having it.”
The single is released accompanied by an official video, directed by Bedroom at Compulsory Film, who recently directed the video for ‘Blades’, as well as ‘Too Good’ from her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams.
About the visual, she comments “the desert landscape has always had a special place in my heart, the scorched land, the dust, the sense of absence. Films like Gerry, My Own Private Idaho and Paris, Texas all use the desert as its own character representing isolation, nostalgia and the journey to a place outside of yourself. Bedroom did an incredible job of meshing surreal dreamscapes with real intimacy to make one of my favourite music videos I’ve ever made.”
LISTEN TO PEGASUS (FT. PHOEBE BRIDGERS) | WATCH THE VIDEO
‘Pegasus (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)’ will feature alongside recent singles ‘Blades’, ‘Weightless’ and ‘Impurities’ on My Soft Machine, as well as eight brand new tracks. Arlo’s singles consistently feature across BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music’s A Lists concurrently, with recent highlights including a performance on The Jonathan Ross Show, plus cover features across The Guardian Film & Music, DORK, MusicWeek, DIY and Gay Times. The songs have received further support from Observer, The Independent, Rolling Stone, NME, Hunger, Clash, The Face and others. She will perform on Later… With Jools Holland on 20th May on BBC Two.
My Soft Machine is a deeply personal body of work; a narration of Parks’ experiences as she navigates her 20’s and the growth intertwined. It was recorded between London and Los Angeles, with the producers Paul Epworth, Ariel Rechtshaid, Romil Hemnani (Brockhampton), Frank Ocean-collaborator Buddy Ross and Carter Lang (SZA) – as well as some self-production from Arlo herself.
Explained ever-articulately in her own words below, you can also watch this beautiful performance video to learn more about the coming record and the themes within.
“The world/our view of it is peppered by the biggest things we experience – our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities almost like visual snow. This record is life through my lens, through my body – the mid 20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity – what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body. There is a quote from a Joanna Hogg film called the Souvenir, it’s an A24 semi-autobiographical film with Tilda Swinton – it recounts a young film student falling in love with an older, charismatic man as a young film student then being drawn into his addiction – in an early scene he’s explaining why people watch films – “we don’t want to see life as it is played out we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.” So there we have it, the record is called….My Soft Machine.” – Arlo Parks
My Soft Machine artwork
Arlo Parks recently announced she will embark on a run of headline tour dates across the UK and Europe for September, which includes a show at London’s Eventim Apollo. Additionally, she will play a run of record store performances, previewing some songs from the new album and signing some copies for fans. Tickets are now sold out. The forthcoming dates follow Arlo’s headline performance at BBC 6 Music Festival last month, as well as performances alongside Harry Styles at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Billie Eilish at The O2 London, Florence & The Machine in Canada, and Clairo across her North American tour. Full worldwide date listings as they stand as follows:
May 24 – Kingston, UK @ Pryzm w/ Banquet Records (intimate outstore performance, early show – 5pm)
May 24 – Kingston, UK @ Pryzm w/ Banquet Records (intimate outstore performance)*
May 29 – London, UK – Rough Trade East, Early Show (in-store performance + signing)*
May 29 – London, UK – Rough Trade East, Late Show (in-store performance + signing)*
June 3 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound
June 8 – Porto, Portugal – Primavera Sound
June 10 – Madrid, Spain – Primavera Sound
June 14 – Leeds, UK – The Wardrobe w/ Crash Records (intimate outstore performance)*
June 14 – Leeds, UK – The Wardrobe w/ Crash Records (intimate outstore performance, late show – 9pm)*
July 5 – Tokyo, Japan @ Ebisu Garden Hall*
July 6 – Osaka, Japan @ Umeda Club Quattro
July 8 – Seoul, South Korea @ Musinsa Garage
July 14 – New Plymouth, New Zealand @ Night Light Festival
July 17 – Melbourne, Australia @ Forum
July 20 – Sydney, Australia @ Sydney Opera House
July 22 – Byron Bay, Australia @ Splendour In The Grass
July 23 – Adelaide, Australia @ The Gov
July 25 – Perth, Australia @ Astor Theatre
Aug 5 – Oxfordshire, UK @ Wilderness Festival
Aug 26 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
Aug 27 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
Sept 5 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Olympia Theatre
Sep 13 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
Sept 14 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso*
Sept 15 – Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique
Sept 17 – Berlin, Germany @ Huxley’s Neue Welt*
Sept 19 – Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz
Sept 21 – Paris, France @ L’Olympia
Sept 28 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
* SOLD OUT
My Soft Machine will be the follow-up to Arlo’s critically-acclaimed and award-winning debut Collapsed in Sunbeams; a record which received two Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album, won the BRIT Award for Best New Artist, received the Hyundai Mercury Prize, and won the BBC Introducing Artist Of The Year Award. Her debut album also reached the top 3 on the UK Album Charts and won the AIM Awards for Best Independent Album and UK Independent Breakthrough. On top of all this, Arlo was also nominated for Breakthrough International Act at the BET Awards, was named as the youngest ever high-profile supporter of UNICEF and an ambassador for the British mental health charity, CALM. She has plans to continue her extensive work with both charities into 2023.
Along with the towering awards garnered last year, Arlo’s debut album was included on almost every ‘Best Albums of 2021’ list and received critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, Rolling Stone, NME, The FADER and many more. Arlo performed singles from her debut album on Later…With Jools Holland and The Graham Norton Show in the UK. She also performed on Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, CBS This Morning: Saturday, and Ellen DeGeneres in the US.
Her songwriting has seen her gain new fans in Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Michelle Obama, Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Massive Attack and renowned writer Zadie Smith, amongst many others.
Pegasus artwork
‘Pegasus’, ‘Blades’, ‘Impurities’ + ‘Weightless’ – out now via Transgressive Records
My Soft Machine – coming 26th May – pre-order/save here
Arlo Parks
My Soft Machine
26th May 2023
1.Bruiseless
2.Impurities
3.Devotion
4.Blades
5.Purple Phase
6.Weightless
7.Pegasus ft. Phoebe Bridgers
8.Dog Rose
9.Puppy
10.I’m Sorry
11.Room (red wings)
12.Ghost
Arlo Parks on:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
