“My friends and I will be having a wonderful moment—sunset, driving back from Malibu—and they’re like, we all know you’re going to write a song about this. I’m always taking note, observing, and writing down little fragments. It’s a desire to immortalize the moment, and I have that at all times.”
-Arlo Parks, episode 332 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Today, we sit with singer-songwriter Arlo Parks! At the top, we discuss the arrival of her new record My Soft Machine (4:26), how performing with Harry Styles and Billie Eilish transformed her work in the studio (7:08), and the vivid memory behind her new song “Devotion” (9:50). Then, we talk about her intuitive writing process (11:26), fueled by an affinity for poetry (13:39), and the influences behind her earliest pieces of music (20:05).
On the back-half, Parks describes the winding path to her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams (30:12), this profound chapter turn from the first to second record (39:07), returning to her “fifteen minutes of presence” as a writer (41:40), her striking new song “Puppy” (42:17), and her ever-evolving relationship to capturing the past (44:12).
Show-notes:
- Stream Arlo Parks’ new record My Soft Machine.
- Hear her previous album Collapsed in Sunbeams.
- Find upcoming tour dates and more on her website.
- Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
- For more talks, hear our conversations with Lorde, Dev Hynes, Kevin Abstract, David Byrne, Syd, Janelle Monáe, Vince Staples, Sleater-Kinney, and Brittany Howard.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by: Krishna Shenoi. Reference image by Alex Waespi.
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