UK artist Arlo Parks has officially announced the release of her upcoming album “My Soft Machine,” following the immense success of her 2021 breakthrough, “Collapsed in Sunbeams.” Although fans will have to wait until May 26th for the album’s release via Transgressive Records, Parks has already unveiled the album’s first single, “Weightless.”
Speaking on the track, Parks explained that the song “revolves around the painful experience of deeply caring for someone who only gives you small crumbs of affection. It’s about suddenly realizing that a person has dimmed your glow and embarking on the slow journey back to a brighter version of yourself.”
“My Soft Machine” is Arlo Parks‘ second album, coming off the heels of her Mercury Prize-winning debut, ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams.’ The album is a collection of 12 tracks with “Weightless” serving as the promotional lead single, a song about unrequited affection. The album continues with tracks “Impurities,” “Blades,” and “Pegasus,” featuring guest artist Phoebe Bridgers, with “Devotion” being the spotlight single.
On the theme of the album, Parks shared, “The world/our vision of it is peppered by the largest things we experience: our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities, almost like visual snow. This album is life through my lens, through my body – mid-20s anxiety, substance abuse of surrounding friends, the guts of being in love for the first time, navigating through post-traumatic stress disorder and pain, self-sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with awe and sensitivity – what it is to be trapped in this particular body.”
Referencing the title, she added, “There’s a quote from a Joanna Hogg film called ‘The Souvenir,’ it’s semi-autobiographical with Tilda Swinton, about a young film student who falls in love with an older, charismatic man, and then is drawn into his addiction. In one of the opening scenes, she explains why people watch films: ‘we don’t want to see life as it unfolds, we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.’ There we have it, the album is called… ‘My Soft Machine.'”
