Two-time Grammy nominee Arlo Parks finds sanctuary on the dance floor on her third album, Ambiguous Desire, which will arrive April 3 from Transgressive. The 12-track effort is led by the bass-heavy single “2SIDED,” on which Parks yearns to know if her romantic feelings will be reciprocated by the person making her heart race.
“2SIDED” is accompanied by a Molly Burdett-directed video, which can be seen below. “It was a rough animal at first,” the London-reared, Los Angeles-based Parks tells SPIN of the song in her first interview about Ambiguous Desire. “I thought, how do I slightly tame this to make it not absolutely obliterating on the ears? But I think it was important for it to feel slightly looming. There’s something a bit foreboding about it, but in a way that then explodes into this more euphoric, heart-on-sleeve feeling of being a teenager and how those first feelings rip you apart. You do feel like it’s the end of the world, in a kind of beautiful way.”
And while Parks’ prior music has occasionally touched on more electronic- and dance-forward sounds, Ambiguous Desire leans fully into this realm with the help of band member and Brockhampton/Kevin Abstract producer Baird, who also backed the artist at three intimate preview shows late last year in London, New York and Los Angeles. Three of the new songs (“Get Go,” “Nightswimming,” “What if I Say It?”) were produced by Parks’ longtime collaborator Paul Epworth.
“So much of it was me and Baird in [music production program] Ableton having those happy accidents and going back to the basics,” Parks says of the album’s sonic detour, which was greatly influenced by such U.K. forefathers as Underworld, Massive Attack and Burial. “We wanted these 100 to 120 BPM drum patterns to feel unique and bring the warmth into them, but also for there to be this nostalgic quality. That’s what we had to almost study. What are the things we’re keeping? What are the things we’re stripping from it? And also, just patience. We had to sit and be like, okay, we’re not just going to make this in one day. It’s going to be tweaks on tweaks, like an oil painting where you’re making slow adjustments over months.”
Parks has never shied away from singing about such sensitive subjects as sexuality, gender and depression, but on Ambiguous Desire, those sentiments are deftly balanced by the emotional rollercoaster of deep, unexpected love and newfound co-habitation. “Being in the same household — accumulating books, watching films together, being steeped in each other’s art and also having our individual practices — gave me more space to just play,” she says. “It was inspiring in a profound way on like 10 different levels, which is really special. I haven’t really had that before — creating a home with somebody who also understands how sacred home is.”
Other Ambiguous Desire highlights include the head-nodding, Goldie- and Prince-referencing opener “Blue Disco,” the soul-baring, breakbeat-bolstered “Beams” and the righteous Sampha duet “Senses,” which feels lifted straight from the artist’s journal. “I listened to him freestyle for hours and hours and hours over the track. He had scribbled down some poetry and was finding the shape of it, and I was just in awe of that process,” Parks says of Sampha. “We were watching some crazy Afro-futurist film with the sound off. It made for a very spiritual afternoon.”
Ambiguous Desire is the follow-up to 2023’s U.K. top 10 hit My Soft Machine, which featured the Phoebe Bridgers collab “Pegasus.” Having not toured since the fall of 2024, Parks is chomping at the bit to support the new album with live shows later this year. “I just want to get back in front of people again,” says the artist, who has previously opened massive international gigs for Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. “Honestly, I’ve been in my little cave for so long. I’m ready to pop out.”
Here is the track list for Ambiguous Desire:
“Blue Disco”
“Jetta”
“Get Go”
“Senses” featuring Sampha
“Heaven”
“Beams”
“South Seconds”
“Nightswimming”
“2SIDED”
“Luck of Life”
“What if I Say It?”
“Floette”