Ahead of the May 26 release of her sophomore album, My Soft Machine, Arlo Parks has today (April 19) unveiled a video for its third single, “Blades.” In contrast to some of her more pop-oriented material, the Paul Epworth-produced “Blades” sports the surprising influence of electronic and dance music.
“Paul is just a wizard; he has this childlike spirit that I’ve always really loved and he brought that to ‘Blades,'” Parks says. “I wanted to make something that I can dance to, finally, because I feel like my songs don’t really have that quality in general. So, I took inspiration from bands like ESG, artists like Kaytranada, and a lot of the kind of ’70s Zambian psychedelic rock that I love.”
Parks says that the song is about finding the courage to rebuild a friendship after it has fallen apart. “I imagine this moment at a party where you see someone across the room that you haven’t seen in a while, you felt yourself growing apart, and you’re like, should I, should I not? And then you find the courage to approach them. That’s the story of that song,” she says.
In addition to Epworth’s contributions and Parks’ own production, the artist enlisted Ariel Rechtshaid, Romil Hemnani, Buddy Ross, and Carter Lang to help produce My Soft Machine.
Parks will tour internationally throughout the late spring and summer, beginning with a May 24 in-store appearance at Pryzm in Kingston upon Thames, U.K. The artist is also on the bill for for the All Things Go Festival outside of Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, alongside Lana Del Rey, boygenius, and Maggie Rogers.
