Collapsed In Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
by Lana Fleischli
I work for It’s A School Night, which is a platform that finds up and coming musicians and brings them to the stage! It’s online nowadays because of covid, so I host a Music News Of The Week segment and tell you the news you can use! (It’s on Twitch on Mondays and Wednesdays! Music News is on the Monday episodes which start at 5pm PST!) Two weeks ago, I talked about Arlo Parks and how she won the Hyundai Mercury Prize for her album Collapsed in Sunbeams against incredible competition. She was also the pick to win even before the award ceremony. This story made me really want to listen to Arlo Parks, as I have been meaning to for some time now, and everything that I have listened to by her I love! Plus, I wanted to see what all the excitement was about!
The first track is an immediate attention-grabber. It’s not a song, but a poem. It’s ominous and dark, but it’s also about the sun and light. It’s layered with emotion, and it ends with a line that I think emanates a lot of the album, “You shouldn’t be afraid to cry in front of me.”
So, who is the “you” that they are referring to? There is a song titled, “For Violet,” which does seem to be about someone that they know well. There’s also, “Eugene.” By the name, I figured it was a song about a guy named Eugene, but it was actually about a person that was into Eugene, but Arlo Parks liked that person. Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I think it’s about Violet. The song, “For Violet” is right before “Eugene.” Also, in the song “Eugene,” she sings, “I had a dream, we kissed and it was all amethyst. The underpart of your eyes was violet. You hung a cigarette between your purple lips.” Amethyst, violet, and purple are all considered purple or Violet. Maybe I’m reading into things, but I personally find that fascinating!
Another wonderful thing about this album is the focus it has on mental health. The song “Black Dog” really stood out to me. It’s about not knowing how to help someone who is really struggling mentally, which is a really hard thing to do. This song made me reflect a lot on what mental illnesses can do to someone. As someone that struggles with mental stuff, the line, “It's so cruel--What your mind can do for no reason” really stood out to me. It made me think about how I feel when those close to me are struggling because it breaks my heart. It also made me think of myself and just how helpless I feel sometimes.
The song, “Hurt” does a similar thing. I interpreted it as a really deep look into depression and sadness. She sings, “Oh, wouldn't it be lovely to feel somethin' for once? Yeah, wouldn't it be lovely to feel worth somethin', huh? I know you can't let go. Of anything at the moment. Just know it won't hurt so. Won't hurt so much forever.” This idea about feeling hopeless but knowing that it won’t last forever is really important and hard. She does a great job of capturing aspects of mental health.
Collapsed In Sunbeams is a beautiful and deep album that made me reflect on myself and those around me. Did I have a realization on how to cure depression? No. But I did get the satisfaction of getting to hear these very real issues represented in music. It gave me a lot of hope, and it just sounds amazing, so it was a lovely listen.