Album of the Week: Sophie EP — Arlo Parks
Young London-based artist Arlo Parks is deeply ingrained in the new generation of alternative music. Taking inspiration from the likes of Earl Sweatshirt among others, Arlo Parks is already showing serious potential with her first EP. Joe Waters investigates.
Once I’d shaken off the disappointment that this EP was not, in fact, by synth maniac and PC music affiliate SOPHIE (turns out that’s the name of the EP, not the artist) I decided, regardless, to check out Arlo Parks’ first significant collection. And, as it turns out, it’s pretty good. London based poet/singer Arlo Parks is 19 years old — so it’s fair to say this release is undoubtedly precocious, even if she hasn’t quite got ahead of polymaths such as Bille Eilish or Lil Nas X.
What she lacks in mainstream success (for the moment, anyway) she more than makes up for in her impeccable taste in drumbeats. Every track here (with the exception of the acoustic interlude ‘Angel’s Song’) benefits from a beefy, chopped-up rhythm section that, despite wearing its trip-hop influences on its sleeve, stands out in today’s musical landscape as a unique sonic handprint.
Tracks ‘George’ and ‘Sophie’ both also come packaged with expressive guitar solos. The former takes on a Steve Hackett-esque whine while the latter is raw and acoustic. The rest of the instrumental palette is made up of muted indie-chugging and synth pads which definitely complete the EP’s cold, grainy, aesthetic. The lyrics stick out now and then, working in idiosyncratic references to varying topics such as ‘MF DOOM,’ ‘switchblades,’ and ‘Ritalin.’ There are even occasional moments of wry levity. I love the part of the title track where Parks declares “I think my art sucks” before a background shout replies, “it sucks!”. In a way, I wish the EP leaned more into some of these humorous, self-aware idiosyncrasies. As it stands, it occasionally feels like the certain aspects of the music are trying too hard to be cool and aloof to actually make much of an impact. The polaroid-lite artwork of Parks in a Basquiat t-shirt somewhat screams art school cliché, epitomising the flaws in Parks’ hopeful, if sophomoric, output.
Furthermore, I do get the occasional feeling throughout this collection of tracks that everything is a little too minimal and perhaps too concerned for its own minimalist aesthetic. The final song, ‘Paperbacks’ is the most welcoming and intoxicating, with its squelchy, soulful intro. I wish vocals provided a little more in terms of tonal range though. It feels like every lyric here is reduced to a sadcore mumble. The expressions of anxiety and melancholia are somewhat less powerful given how Instagram-filtered they feel. This is post-millennial depression at is most marketable. The sort of vibe that feels like it could score an advert for trainers. Parks isn’t alone in inhabiting this style, of course — it’s been pretty popular for the larger part of this decade. I think it’s just kind of a shame that in the entire 15 minutes of this release, the emotional range covered is relatively small.
Overall, though, this EP is pretty good and I’m looking forward to seeing where Arlo Parks goes from here. If you’re into moody, trip-hop vibes then you should definitely give it a listen, even just for the sick basslines. The sound palette here is so promising that, if the right song came along, I feel like it could create something really special.
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