STACK #224 June 2023

MUSIC FEATURE

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My Soft Machine by Arlo Parks is out now via Transgressive/ PIAS.

A rlo Parks' second album’s title references a quote from Joanna Hogg's film The Souvenir (“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”), and Arlo Parks also namechecks stars of the silver screen – such as Claire Danes, Wim Wenders, and Juliette Binoche – throughout. Whereas her Mercury Prize-winning debut record Collapsed in Sunbeams saw Arlo revisiting her adolescence, its follow-up is a collection of time capsules documenting hyperreal, 20-something angst. “I wish I was bruiseless/ Almost everyone that I love has been abused and I am included/ I feel so much guilt that I couldn’t guard more people from harm…” – Arlo’s unflinching, diaristic lyrics dominate from the very first verse of My Soft Machine 's opener. And to ensure her exemplary vocal performances – sung, spoken, or a combo of both within a single song – remain the centrepiece, Arlo’s poetry is gently cushioned by lo-fi pop arrangements: textured synths, guitar noodling, laidback or skittish beats as required. While some phrases are aspirational – who doesn’t “just wanna eat cake in a room with a view”? – others (see “We’re all scared kids and it don’t make sense”) speak directly to the Super Sad Generation that Arlo represents, making them feel seen. Bryget Chrisfield ARLO'S ENGINE CRAFTS PURE POETRY

DYK?

West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg and singer-songwriter-actress Brandy are first cousins. They've only collaborated once, on Snoop's 2009 album Malice n Wonderland ; Brandy contributed vocals to the track Special , which also featured a pre globally-recognised Pharrell Williams.

RANCID'S LATEST ROILS WITH ANARCHISTIC HIJINKS

E ven all these years later, punk rock revivalists Rancid still have a bone to pick with the proverbial ‘new world order.’ Conceivably, it might be because the same societal and political inequalities that existed when the Californians first unleashed their errant discord of anti-establishment anthems to the world in the early '90s have remained unchanged. Or perhaps we can put it down to their hankering for a bit of artistic vigour and creative inspiration in this post pandemic world.

On Tomorrow Never Comes , Rancid have crafted a masterstroke that carries a social consciousness, yet is not weighed down by the gravity of its message (or lack thereof?). It may concern itself with the back alley world of the urban downtrodden, but it sparkles with just enough glitz to resonate with those on the other side of the tracks. 2023 album of the year (thus far)! Alex Burgess

Such is Rancid’s artistry that songs like Mud, Blood, & Gold, title track Tomorrow Never Comes, and Bloody & Violent History come charged with scathing cultural commentary, but do so without the preachy, militant hang-ups. What’s left is just the pure, unadulterated, and uproarious revelry. They crank up the gears to critical levels on menacing blow-outs Don’t Make Me Do It and Eddie

Tomorrow Never Comes by Rancid is out June 2 via Epitaph.

the Butcher , then have you chanting along hook, line and sinker to rambunctious belters New American and Prisoners Song . The underpinning arrangements may sound (deceptively) straightforward at first, but you would be missing which showcase the band’s instrumental prowess: just listen to the duel between Matt Freeman’s bass and the lead guitar towards the end of It’s a Road to Righteousness . the flecks of subtle complexity sprinkled (tastefully) throughout,

In either case, the lads are absolutely back with defiant, kick-your-teeth-in vengeance on Tomorrow Never Comes , armed to the hilt with a fresh slate of blistering musicianship, along with lyrical stabs that cut like straight razors. And that is indeed fortuitous for us, because it seems like a distant memory when we last heard Rancid enraptured by such insatiable angst – and heartened purpose – in their songwriting. Though the enhanced studio production on Tomorrow Never Comes may feel a little more refined than we’ve been accustomed to, the songs embody that same boisterous spirit at their core, calling to memory the pithy ferocity which characterised the band’s pre- Indestructible material.

80 JUNE 2021

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