Over the past year, Arlo Parks’ rise has shifted into turbo mode, and last night’s gig at Somerset House was her first and final homecoming headline show of 2022. “I’m breathing a sigh of relief, I’m home,” she said after performing her breakthrough 2018 song Cola.
The gig follows a busy period touring with US singer-songwriter Clairo and playing festivals. Previously the 21-year-old London soloist won both the Best New Artist award at the BRITs and bagged the coveted Mercury Prize for her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams. She’s now a regular on BBC Radio 6 Music with a weekly show, Dream Fuel, in which she shares with listeners the songs that have inspired her hyper-sensitive, soulful pop creations.
Performing last night she beamed at fans in the front rows who were holding sunflowers aloft. The yellow flowers at Parks’ shows have become symbolic of the bright hope that she instils. The poet-come-singer’s explorations of mental health are bold and unfettered, traversing the difficulties of trying to help a depressed friend (on Black Dog – “I would do anything to get you out your room”) to confronting her own demons on Hope (“Truth is, I’m still learning to be open about this”).
It was those songs in particular, as well as Bluish, that really altered the mood on Tuesday after what was an oddly distant and disconnected first half. A good chunk of the audience seemed to be disengaged, chatting loudly in the scorching weather. Parks’ beautiful, featherlight vocals unfortunately fell flat for earlier songs including Portra 400 and Caroline.
It was as though she let her breathless, rock star dancing get the better of her singing. But the gentler thrusts of Bluish and Black Dog allowed Parks to take pause. She grasped the microphone tightly and threw all her emotional weight behind the songs – and sounded all the better for it. “I wrote it for my best friend but also for myself,” she said of Black Dog, telling the crowd that “music has always helped” her and the people in her life through the worst times.
Her song Hope and recent single Softly saw Parks’ seven-strong backing band fully let loose with instrumental solos. Anthemic crowd sing-a-longs at the close ensured that Parks’ moreish melodies would bounce around skulls for days. “It’s better than I could have dreamed,” the singer effused, clearly ecstatic to be playing her own show on home soil again.
Despite her impressive achievements there’s still room to grow as a headliner – the curse, perhaps, of such a rapid rise – but also little doubt that she won’t come to master it. For now, though, we can celebrate her early successes. She’s surely got a long and exciting career ahead of her.
