Mercury Prize-winning West London singer-songwriter Arlo Parks is set to unleash brand new music in the form of 'Softly', a potent single that sees poetic pleadings paired with fatalistic resignations and uplifting piano.

The track was written and recorded in London last year alongside producer Paul Epworth (Aretha Franklin, Florence & The Machine), who Arlo previously worked with on her critically acclaimed award-winning and Grammy-nominated debut album, Collapsed In Sunbeams.

Discussing the single, Arlo says: "This song to me has this distinct, fiery intensity to it - it’s a whirlwind of emotion. The sadness and resignation of loss, the anger of something being over inexplicably - the chorus is essentially “let me down gently because if you’re brutal about it, I might not survive it - be soft about the way you leave me because you’re still my person and I’m completely in thrall to you”.

The release comes during another special year for Arlo, shows at Coachella, an upcoming US tour with Clairo, supporting Harry Styles in Ireland and now with an Australian tour this August.

In Arlo Parks’s world, words are as useful as photographs. Luscious, expressive vignettes pepper the poetic lyrics in her sweet, ruminative indie pop songs. The 20-year-old - who burst onto the scene with 2018’s 'Cola' - uses poetry as her songwriting compass, weaving vivid imagery and sensory touches throughout the stirring, honest stories that make up her rich body of work. “I was really interested in the idea of delving into a hyper-specific moment and making it feel universal, making it something that people could connect to,” Arlo says about drawing from poetry in her approach.

A sensitive child, Arlo grew up in a peaceful part of town. “There wasn’t that much to do, and I was a pretty happy kid, I was very much in my own little world,” she explains, describing spending her free time exploring creative ways to express her emotions. “Because I was feeling a lot, I started writing quite young,” she says, referencing poets Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver and Pat Parker and more who inspired her to write. “It’s that cinematic quality that can make you feel like you’re plunged into someone’s subjectivity,” she adds about poetry’s impact. Arlo recalls a gift from her uncle—a record collection that included classics from Sade, Earth Wind & Fire, and Bob Dylan—and choir practice as fundamentals to her musical side. Like most kids her age, she grew up digging around on YouTube for music, discovering an eclectic range of music to root herself in from the likes of Portishead, Odd Future, Elliott Smith, Joni Mitchell, King Krule and more.

Her debut tour down under will take in the East Coast of Australia and is eagerly anticipated by her Aussie fans. Taking in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Arlo will perform tracks off her phenomenal record Collapsed in Sunbeams as well as new material that will be road-tested throughout the upcoming shows.