Built from the Dancefloor: Arlo Parks on Ambiguous Desire

MUSIC

Apr 12

I was introduced to Arlo Parks in 2023, when one of my friends somehow acquired an enormous corflute poster of Arlo’s sophomore album My Soft Machine from our local record store, and insisted on carrying it home on the bus. This thing was seriously massive, and she took over the entire back row, gripping her new possession.

That kind of devotion feels fitting when it comes to Arlo’s fanbase. Her beautifully intimate, observant and honest writing has built her a following who connects deeply with, and holds onto, her music.

Her new album Ambiguous Desire is no different, continuing with that gut-wrenching emotional honesty, yet also pushing her sound somewhere new. Inspired by nightlife and the energy of clubdance floors, the record leans into experimental production, featuring layered synths, samples and an expansive instrumental presence. The singles leading up to album release; 2SIDED, Get Go, and Heaven, set the tone early, each paired with music videos that are works of art in their own right, transporting you visually into the world of Ambiguous Desire.

I spoke with Arlo just a few days before the album's release. In between tour rehearsals and joining our call from a fitting, she was clearly in the middle of a busy lead-up, yet she still took the time to be incredibly thoughtful and open about the process behind the album. I feel so grateful to have been given a glimpse into the world of Ambiguous Desire. It’s clear every decision in this album is highly intentional and carefully considered. Arlo is making art that feels entirely, unmistakably her own.

You can stream Ambiguous Desire now

How are you feeling in this final lead up to the release of the album?

I feel really excited to be honest. I think because I had so much patience with how long I even took to roll the record out. It's been ready for over a year, so I think there's something about having been really intentional about the way that people got to understand the world, and now I feel ready for people to hear it. I'm in rehearsals at the moment to start building the show and see how it's going to interact with people in a live space too.

I've been lucky enough to get to listen to the album already and I really enjoyed it. It very much feels like a new sonic direction, but is so distinctly still you. What do you think has shifted the most in your sound this time around?

I guess to me, there are a few elements, being inspired by those nocturnal spaces and everything that comes with that. On one side of things it's being inspired by these subcultures and being inspired by communities, and thinking about the way that the music would feel like if it was played loud in a room full of people, and how it would move people's bodies and how it would soundtrack the journeys to and from those spaces. Also I think being inspired a lot by electronic music kind of encouraged me to be a little bit more minimal I guess. I think my music is still very much rooted in poetry and the storytelling, but in a song like Heaven I'm really letting the music speak in a way. I feel like in the past the music has kind of been like a bed for the poetry to kind of sit on top of. It feels like a really textural sound where the lyrics and the vocal are kind of woven into the tapestry and I'm leaving space. I also think a big change was in this process, because I spent more time than ever on this record and I was very much only doing that, whereas in the past I would be working on a book, or touring, or moving around a lot. I think that the change of pace in my life impacted the way that the record sounds in a massive way.

That’s such an interesting process. So the music comes first?

Yeah, I think in terms of my writing at least, we would start by finding some chords or maybe a synth or find an interesting sample and then put drums on top of that, and then I would kind of be freestyling and flowing and finding the melody first. Then, I've always been journaling and writing lyrics consistently throughout this whole process, so when I had a sense of the melody I would open my notebooks and find the story that felt like it fit the melody that I'd written.

Is this a new process for you?

Oh it's a new process for me I would say, I think for a long time I was really lyric- driven, just in terms of the lyrics came first, that was the way that I approached my music. It felt like it wasn't even necessarily something that I did on purpose as a shift, I think it just made sense when it came to the references that I was listening to, and the way that I was hearing and experiencing music also. Thinking about being on a dance floor with other people, often it's the synth lines or it's the bass or it's the drums or it's the texture of the vocal, rather than the lyrics that you hear first when you're dancing in a club, so I think maybe it reflects that also.

You've mentioned having lots of influences when writing this album, what were you listening to when making the record?

So, so much! I was inspired a lot by Paradise Garage and kind of ’70s and ‘80s disco music. DJs like Larry LeVan and Todd Terry and even some of those Shep Pettibone Madonna remixes were super important to me. I was really inspired by pop music and also a lot of electronic music specifically from the 2010s or early 2000s in the UK. People like Burial or Kode9 or even the early James Blake stuff. Then of course Radiohead has always been a touchstone for me, Portishead and Massive Attack, and I just love NTS Radio so I was just kind of going on there and discovering through some of my favorite DJs. That discovery process was really fun to have as part of the practice.

The album feels so visually cohesive. The music videos and single covers are beautiful. Did you have influences outside of music?

There was a lot of cinematic research going into it. I've always been really visually inspired, and when I was thinking about the way that I wanted this record to live in the world a lot of it was quite visually led. I was watching a lot of documentaries, one called Maestro on New York club culture, and there's also one called The Moon Is the Oldest TV, which is about the first kind of pioneer of video art and using video as art. That was really inspiring in terms of how to approach my music videos and how to collaborate with people who aren't necessarily just music video makers or filmmakers, they actually approach video as an art form. Then also watching a lot of Taiwanese new wave films like Edward Yang and a lot of Wong Kar-Wai films. I was inspired by films that felt like they were a little bit slower paced, and more about the colors and the body language and the space in between the dialogue, because that's almost how I was approaching the production and these songs. It was about what you can convey through sound and space and suggestion, rather than just packing it full of lyrics and lots of production.

Do you have a personal favorite track on the album or is there one at the moment that you're feeling really connected with?

Because I've been working on the live set at the moment, I've been thinking a lot about the song Floette at the end. That song is really special to me because it's the first song that I made for the record. In a way it's almost the most unselfconscious song because I wasn't even really sure that I was making a record when I was making it. I was just writing and feeling really free. The way that the drum moment at the end gets so euphoric and ecstatic and messy and alive, I feel like I'm really proud of the production on that song and also creating a song that feels hopeful. It's cool to end the record with a sentiment like “I'm blossoming,” – it just feels like this kind of beautiful arrival or full circle. So that's the one that I am most excited about.

Have you had friends hear the album already and have favourites they've picked?

You know what, not that many. I did an album listening here in London and in LA where I had some of the visuals playing, and people got to hear the record top to bottom. It was mostly in that one moment that people got to listen to at one time. I think I keep my cards pretty close to my chest. I've sent it to the people whose voices feature on the record, and my partner also. But in general, I feel like I want people to hear it in their own time when it comes out.

I’ve really noticed you have a very supportive and receptive fanbase. What’s it like releasing music and watching fans take it on and give the songs their own meaning?

It's incredible. I'm a fan of music above anything else. I know what it's like to hear a record and feel like, “Oh, this was made for me somehow,” even though you know it's not. Part of what you love about it is that it feels like it's about this specific story that maybe you haven't lived. But, there's something amazing about taking on a song or a record and it becomes part of your journey and part of your healing.

When people will tell me that a certain song is what they got married to, or what they listened to when they lost their job and were going through a difficult time or, moving through grief, whatever it might be, it's super special to me. I think in general, people have a really deep connection to my music on a soul level, rather than it just being something a bit more surface. People connect to it deeply, which is a blessing, especially because I'm that connected to a lot of records. So I really know that feeling, and to be able to bring that about in someone else is amazing.

Is it ever surprising the meaning you see people give to songs?

Sometimes! Yeah, sometimes, especially when it's about situations that were really specific to me. It's interesting how people apply it in a way that's so specific to them, and I think, that makes complete sense, even though I haven't met you and I wasn't living that, but that's what you would see in the song. I also think it's interesting when, maybe I'm writing a song about somebody else and then a listener might be experiencing it from the perspective of that somebody else and it's reflected back at me. That's always quite interesting.

You've talked a bit about preparing for your tour for the album. What can people expect from the tour?

There's going to be a sense of intimacy. It's going to feel rooted in the poetry and in the feeling of the songs and in that kind of connection. It's going to be smaller rooms at first, because I wanted us to all be in it together. What was important to me is bringing the sounds of the record and translating them in a way that felt really true, like bringing those samplers and those drum machines, and some of that more electronic improvisation into the set. With these shows specifically, these first kind of album celebration shows in the UK, I'm going to be playing the whole record. Then for the headline later on in the year, it's going to be interesting to blend the world of these three records and create something cohesive. It's important for me to keep the essence of some of those older songs that people love. I'm not trying to remix the whole thing; there still needs to be a way of it feeling like a seamless journey. It's exciting. It's its own practice, honestly, putting together a set for sure.

Has preparing these songs from the new album to play live changed your relationship with them at all?

I guess, yeah, in a way. When there are songs that have felt so personal, and that I've only maybe sung to one person, there is then this awareness of how much bigger than that it's going to be. In a way that feels really exciting and nerve-wracking in certain ways, but I just become hyperaware that these really personal songs are going to be shared to thousands of people. That makes it beautiful in a way, I almost feel proud of myself. I'm like, “Okay, yeah, this is kind of brave to be this vulnerable in front of so many people”.

You’ve been releasing music for a few years now. What is some advice you would give to your younger self, or even just young creatives starting their career?

The biggest piece of advice would be to enjoy this beginning part where you are just figuring out who you are, and creating in a way that's very unobserved. I think that period of time of play and of trying to understand yourself is so important and is so much fun. Also, maybe not paying attention to the way that other people got their starts or built their careers, because every single story is completely unique. And never losing sight of why you started doing it in the first place. That's something that I really try hard to do when I'm making a record; just remembering what it was like to be 15 or 16 making music, because that's the most important feeling to hold on to. Also, I think that it's about tenacity, it's about knowing that these things take time. More recently, there are a lot of examples of it seeming like it's out of the blue, or somebody blew up out of nowhere, but most people have spent years working on what it is that they're making. So, just having a bit of openness in terms of the timeline, and keeping a part of it just for yourself.

Well we'd love to see you in Australia sometime soon.

Don't worry, don't worry. I'll be over there