Arlo Parks - Sophie

Among a wealth of musical influences that are as far reaching as MF Doom and Sufjan Stevens, Arlo namechecks a number of literary influences on her work - Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath and poet, Hanif Abdurraqib, to name a few - and it shows. The collection lyrically spells out with all the logic of a dream - hyper-specific details rub shoulders with fantasy which subsequently makes it all the more real. “Having sex in the sky / I think I hate you but I don’t know why,” she sings on ‘Paperbacks In The Sky’. Later, she recalls “eating parma violets on the way back from therapy” after “bleeding out on a velvet couch”.

These passages are set to analogue-sounding instrumentals which are consistently warm and enveloping. Frequencies implode and resurface intact on ‘Paperbacks In The Sky’ to stunning effect, the collage of vintage synths, dusty drum sounds and warm harmonies sees the EP’s centrepiece ‘Second Guessing’ through to a blissful chorus. But it’s Arlo’s vocal that’s the real star here, her rich croon sculpts her carefully crafted lyrics in an intimate fashion which you’d happily listen to way beyond the limits of an EP.

Tags: Arlo Parks, Reviews, EP Reviews