Today, Arlo Parks shares ‘Impurities’, a new single from her second album 'My Soft Machine' written about people who "lift you up and make you laugh".
Twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning artist Arlo Parks has today shared a new single from her second album My Soft Machine, with ‘Impurities’; a tuneful and textured track written about community. In her words, “it’s about being around people who make you feel like your inner ugliness and failures and mistakes don’t matter, who lift you up and make you laugh, who make you feel good and clean.”
The production on this single was a collaboration between Arlo, Romil Hemnani from Brockhampton and Carter Lang (SZA) and was inspired by nights listening to The Beatles and SZA, as well as her love for ambient music and atmosphere.
“I wanted to show how being around your people really does feel like coming home."
Accompanying the single is a Jak Payne-directed video, which sees Arlo spotlighted in familiar settings, whilst the camera delicately pans the moving picture. Parks explains, “with this visualiser I really wanted to convey this atmospheric oscillation between solitude and companionship – I wanted to show how being around your people really does feel like coming home. When I was writing this song I had been thinking about Gus Van Sant a lot and how he captures people in all their fragility and beauty and ugliness – Jak was instrumental in creating/protecting that sense of softness.”
Watch the music video for ‘Impurities’:
‘Impurities’ was given its first spin on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music 1 show today, alongside a New Music Daily interview with Arlo. It follows her recent single ‘Weightless’, which featured across both BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music’s A Lists concurrently and saw Arlo featured on the cover of The Guardian Film & Music. The song received further support from Observer, The Independent, Rolling Stone, HUNGER, NME, Clash, DORK, DIY and others. Both singles appear on the forthcoming album, due 26th May on Transgressive Records.
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.
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