Queer Black artist Arlo Parks unveils new single, Heaven, lifted from her forthcoming album, Ambiguous Desire
“Heaven is about euphoria, community and staying present."
Happy New Music Friday to those who celebrate! Following the announcement of her forthcoming album Ambiguous Desire, twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award winning artist Arlo Parks today shares a new taste of the record ahead of its release on 3rd April via Transgressive Records.
Today’s single, Heaven, hammers through a cathartic, earth-shaking bassline, inspired by Arlo dancing to an early morning set from her friend, the DJ Kelly Lee Owens under the bridge at her favourite Los Angeles rave. A brave departure from her previous work, Heaven sees Arlo lean into her deep love for underground electronic dance music and drum patterns. Driven by a techno bassline, the track tells the story of someone longing for the night to not end.
In her words, Arlo elaborates “Heaven is about euphoria, community and staying present. Being in a room full of strangers sweating, connecting, losing and finding themselves is a kind of magic that’s beyond language. This song was my attempt at capturing that feeling.”
Heaven closely follows 2SIDED, the first song from the new record, released last month alongside the album announcement. Hailed as a “stunning comeback track” by Rolling Stone UK and described as “her most confident yet” by The FADER, 2SIDED premiered as BBC Radio 1’s first Hottest Record of 2026, earned a spot on the A List at BBC 6 Music, and was later named Tune of the Week at Radio 1. On release week, Arlo also stepped into the NTS Radio studios for her own show of club music and current favourites, offering an early glimpse into the sounds shaping this era-listen back to her mix HERE.
That club-rooted energy runs throughout Ambiguous Desire. Over the past two years, Arlo dove headfirst into nocturnal spaces where she could be whoever she wanted. She drew inspiration from the queer hedonism of NYC’s Paradise Garage to the moody nocturnal British beats of The Streets and Burial, the glittering synth catharsis of LCD Soundsystem, and rooted house grooves of Theo Parrish, losing herself on the dancefloor. The record is Arlo at her most confident and experimental, supplanting live band sessions for modular synths, Ableton plugins and samplers that channel the frenetic, vibrant spaces she was immersed in, all while spotlighting the acclaimed poetry and lyricism she’s beloved for.
Reflecting on the making of the record, Arlo shares, "I danced more than ever as I made this record, I made more friends than ever too, found myself in the weird underbelly of New York juke nights, unleashed, laughed and laughed and laughed. This record has desire at its center. Desire is a life force, it’s a wanting, a yearning, a momentum-we are all alive because there is something or someone we want-desire is an engine. But it is also mysterious, tangled, random, enlightening and HUMAN."
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