ALC #10 Collapsed In SunBEAms

[RoundTheBend]

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Collapsed In Sunbeams by Arlo Parks

If these genre thingies help you:
Neo-Soul, Bedroom Pop
Trip Hop, Smooth Soul

Was thinking of going Pharoah Sanders or this Indaba Is comp as they are strong albums. This album though... SPRING HAS SPRUNG and I have Collapsed In SunBEAms. This is a warm beautiful/chill album. Melody/beats/lyrics... all solid. It doesn't hurt I love soul. I don't disagree with those who feel like this gets a little samey, but for a debut album, I feel in love at first listen. Will it stick around, dunno. I do feel like there's dynamics in the music and vocals enough, but yeah, I decided on this one mostly because of how warm it is. And don't we all need a little more warmth? (regardless of sexual identity/preference)

Got stuff going on tomorrow, so thought an early post would be in order. Enjoy

[Applerill]

OH MY GOODNESS

This might be my favorite album of the year so far, Seth. Thank you soooooooooo much for sharing it <3 it’s soooooooo smooth and sexy and personal

[Repo]

Great one, RTB! Had this on frequent rotation earlier in the year. My kids love it too. We're headed to the beach today (NOT Miami. Chicago!) So we'll throw this on on the way there. You're totally right. This is perfect Spring music!

[kokkinos]

Not as excited as the majority with this one, undeniably charming yet too ordinary, especially the vocals/songwriting - or at least that was my impression when I listened to it two months ago, I'll try to find some time to give it a second chance. On the other hand, it's only her debut, so her big moment could be just round the bend corner, the potential is there for sure.
Of course extra points if you picked it just to make that BEA reference at the title.

[EyeKanFly]

Yeah I gotta be honest, I wasn't into this one. Which is a huge shame. I wanted to love this album: debut by a female musician, indie neo-soul when there isn't much of that getting major looks right now, co-written & produced by someone I went to school with?? (the last part I didn't find out until after I listened to it, I wonder if that would have swayed my opinion one way or the other if I had known in advance).

And don't get me wrong, it's good, there's just nothing really that sticks out about this. Her vocals are great, and the lyrics are intimate, but the songwriting is...meh. I think if she had been given a more interesting backing group a la Lianne la Havas, maybe it would've been more interesting to my ears. It feels like there's something missing, soft horns or strings or a stronger piano or something for Parks's vocals to play off of, but alas.

All that said, it's certainly worth a listen, seems like it's near the top of lots of critics' 2021 lists so far. And it's only the second album of its genre used as an ALC so far
I do also have a feeling that this album will be significantly less controversial than some of the earlier ALC picks (though a few of the recent ones appeared to reach a consensus).
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Keatownrodriguez]

This is such a great uplifting project. I've had it on rotation pretty frequently since release and hasn't gotten tired of it

[craola]

i've been meaning to circle back on this one for a re-listen. i listened to it a couple times when it was released, but i'm also in the "really wanted to like it but nothing quite stuck with me" camp. i've had plenty of albums angle me that way that've grown on me once i'd really sunk my teeth in, so we'll see how this'ne fairs.

[Mercury]

I do like this one. Was pretty eagerly anticipating its release. And while I wasn't disappointed, I wasn't blown away either. All the elements are there for me to adore it, but on this her debut it feels like the formula of the sound hasn't fully formed or coalesced. That initial blast of words makes it seem, perhaps, that I don't like this album. But, no, I do like it. Some the songs have a catchy, dignified simplicity and clarity that I find refreshing and I think she's a subtly excellent singer and a great songwriter in the making. It is toward the top of my albums heard this year. And I will come back to it again soon (maybe this ALC gives me a perfect excuse).
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Hayden]

Catching wind of this one all around, but the description does little for me. Might sample a few tracks later today. Trying to give all of the ALC choices at least one shot.

[LedZep]

This one has been circling around the internets since January and I never bothered to hit play, glad that it's ALC. So I heard it twice a few days ago and forgot to comment. It's ok-ish, by far my favourite parts were her voice and lyrics as well as trip hop influenced tracks. For Violet sounds like Portishead goes soul in 2021, excellent song. However most of the album falls in the very derivative and slightly underwritten pop/neo soul category. It fuses genres in a way that's already been done to death, that's the main issue imo. It's not completely unoriginal or bad, don't get me wrong, but the whole thing didn't really grab me the way I expected it to. Still a cool pick for ALC.
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Finally updated the overall chart

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