Arlo Parks has released her full-length follow-up to 2021’s Collapsed in Sunbeams, My Soft Machine. Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

In a statement, the London-based singer-songwriter revealed the inspiration behind her sophomore LP as well as its title, which she lifted from the 2019 Joanna Hogg film, The Souvenir. “The world/our view of it is peppered by the biggest things we experience — our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities almost like visual snow,” she shared. “This record is life through my lens, through my body — the mid-20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating P.T.S.D. and grief and self-sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity — what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body.”

For the origins of the album’s title, Parks identified a quote by Tom Burke’s character in The Souvenir that perfectly summarized all of the project’s themes: “In an early scene he’s explaining why people watch films — ‘We don’t want to see life as it is played out, we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.’ So there we have it, the record is called… My Soft Machine.”

The 12-track album features a contribution from Phoebe Bridgers on the single “Pegasus.” Parks also teased My Soft Machine with the lead single “Weightless,” “Impurities,” and “Blades.”

My Soft Machine follows Arlo Parks’ impressive debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, which earned her our Artist of the Month distinction in January 2021 and later ranked among our Top Albums of 2021. She’ll support the LP with a run of tour dates throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia this year; find deals for all of her upcoming shows here.

My Soft Machine Artwork: