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Arlo Parks\u2019 latest release, \u201cAmbiguous Desire,\u201d delivers an introspective version of dance music.<\/p>\n
Joshua Gordon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This month, Gay City News reviews new albums \u00a0from bi indie pop singer Arlo Parks and queer musician Karl Kuehn\u2019s project Gay Meat.\n<\/p>\n
Arlo Parks<\/strong> | \u201cAmbiguous Desire\u201d | Transgressive<\/em>\n<\/p>\n Up until now, Arlo Parks\u2019 music has been unfailingly tasteful. Songs like \u201cBlack Dog\u201d and \u201cWeightless\u201c found a pleasantly melancholy path at the intersection of folk, pop, and R&B. She fell into a subgenre critic Dave Moore has named \u201cwindowpane,\u201d where indie rock crosses over into adult contemporary. On her first two albums, this turned out to be a limitation. More promisingly, her third album, \u201cAmbiguous Desire,\u201d develops a new direction: an introspective version of dance music. Rather than opening up over a guitar, she does so singing to breakbeats. \u201cAmbiguous Desire\u201d resembles vintage trip-hop, arriving in the vicinity of Everything But The Girl\u2019s 1996 drum\u2019n\u2019bass-cum-pop album \u201cWalking Wounded.\u201d<\/p>\n Going clubbing regularly led to Parks\u2019 current sound. \u201cJetta\u201d portrays her on a night out with friends. \u201cGet Go\u201d relates a story about meeting Maria, a friend whose boyfriend has cheated on her, and dancing together to chase pain away. \u201c2SIDED\u201d ponders a case of unreciprocated affection. Parks speaks to her crush: \u201cyou know how I feel, tell me it\u2019s two-sided.\u201d \u201cLuck of Life\u201d is soothing yet vibrant, a lullaby cooed over assertive drums.<\/p>\n Parks\u2019 tone remains ruminative. She sings slowly, rather than trying to match the drums, never pushing her voice over them. \u201cNightswimming\u201d places piano chords over a much quicker beat. (Although it shares its title with an R.E.M. song, it\u2019s not a cover.) \u201cHeaven\u201d is spare, with little except snatches of piano and bass to fill out the vocals and drums. A quick rush of keyboards sounds like it\u2019s heard from the street outside a club. The beats still support her voice, rather than leading the way. R&B singer Sampha delivers the chorus on \u201cSenses,\u201d with his falsetto contrasting against hers.<\/p>\n When Parks devotes \u201cBeams\u201d to the aftermath of betrayal (\u201cI know it\u2019s not a way to treat people you love,\u201d she sings), the song\u2019s marked by the careful restraint of her voice. She avoids ASMR whispers, but she\u2019s able to convey great feeling while barely raising her voice. Her experimentation with dance beats has boiled the blandness out of her music.<\/p>\n Gay Meat<\/strong> | \u201cBlue Water\u201d | Skeletal Lightning | April 24th<\/em><\/p>\n The former singer of emo trio Museum Mouth and a short-term drummer for the popular pop punk group Say Anything, Karl Kuehn has been recording under the name Gay Meat for six years. With almost 20 years as a working musician, this debut album has been in the works for a long while. When his mother suffered brain damage following six grand mal seizures, Kuehn became her caretaker, assisting her till her death three years later. (\u201cHolly Drive\u201d sports a sample of her saying she\u2019s going to be 60.) Since all but one song on \u201cBlue Water\u201d was written while she was still alive, he\u2019s had a great deal of time to muse over those final years together.<\/p>\n Over chiming guitar, Gay Meat\u2019s first words on the album are a spoken \u201cI love you.\u201d He goes on to sing \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about your life\u2026were you born cursed, or was it pure judgment?\u201d The arrangement remains minimal for a while, till backing vocals and drums fill it out. \u201cMy Mother\u2019s Son\u201d sounds cheerful, complete with a \u201cbah-bah-bah\u201d chorus, if you don\u2019t pay attention. On closer examination, Gay Meat sings through anguish, contemplating severe depression while dreaming about a more fulfilling life. It\u2019s not the only song in which grief constricts his opinions for engaging romantically with other men. Following his mother\u2019s passing, Kuehn moved from North Carolina to Chicago, and frustration at being stuck in a small town forms some of the subtext for \u201cBlue Water.\u201d He declares, \u201cI miss having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the album, Kuehn refrains from distorted guitar, playing clean, trebly arpeggios. \u201cMore Good Angels\u201d captures that moment in the 2000s when indie rockers dabbled in synth-pop. Kuehn sings in a breathy voice, performing alongside an overdubbed backing (including female singers). Although he isn\u2019t the only musician who performs on \u201cBlue Water,\u201d the album feels as though It were recorded at home, in the midst of the struggles he sings about. For much of it, a drum machine, enhanced by heavy reverb, enhances a feeling of claustrophobia. Gentle timbres and catchy melodies cover up much darker lyrics.<\/p>\n The voice of Kuehn\u2019s mother returns on the title track, which he recorded after she had regained her voice. One then realizes that the album\u2019s name came from this song. The final sound we hear is her laughter, amplified and echoed. \u201cBlue Water\u201d speaks to the frustration of living with a dying parent and coping with the aftermath of their absence. As tenderly as it can, It speaks to the depth of pain that comes with this kind of love.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Gay](\"https:\/\/gaycitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gay-Meat_-Press-Photo-3_Credit_-Nick-OReilly.jpg?quality=51&w=469\")