Album Review: Arlo Parks, Ambiguous Desire

Arlo Parks has had no shortage of accolades in recent years. The London artist’s debut album, Collapsed In Sunbeams, won the Mercury Prize and secured Best British Solo Female Artist Award at the Brits in 2021.

Ambiguous Desire, Parks’ third release, is her best yet. Produced by Baird, the album is inspired by the queer hedonism of NYC’s Paradise Garage and by British acts like The Streets and Burial. It sounds like Parks at her most wilful, but also her most vulnerable.

As the title suggests, this is an album about desire. Opening track ‘Blue Disco’ is built on delicious, propulsive grooves designed to get the listener dancing, but there’s also a heady undercurrent of sexuality to the song.

The album continues in this vein, with dancing and desire at its heart. As with many of the best indie albums, atmosphere takes priority over everything else. Baird’s involved production is built on little riffs and hypnotic percussion elements; it allows you to be there in the room with Arlo (or the house-party, or club, or wherever she takes you to).

You don’t always need to follow the lyrics of each song to get its flavour, although she does have some excellent turns of phrases, such as on ‘2Sided’, where she sings, “There’s a butterfly effect / Cause I feel my heart climb”. Overall, a brilliant effort from one of British music’s most gifted artists.

9/10