NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
In the early mornings, when I’m staring out of the window with a coffee cup in hand, the silky voice and chill vibe of English singer/songwriter Arlo Parks (aka Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho) is the perfect soundtrack to those mornings. She was well on her way to success with her first single “Cola” in 2018, her first two EP’s, and a headlining tour in Feb 2020 when Covid brought everything to a screeching halt. Parks nevertheless released two hit singles in 2020 and won accolades for her 2021 debut album “Collapsed in Sunbeams” as she also took the award for Breakthrough Artist at the 2021 Brit Awards. After releasing her second studio album “My Soft Machine” in May 2023, she embarked on a world tour in support of that album. She stopped in Toronto on March 25, 2024 in the midst of the North American leg of that tour.
Opening for Parks was La-based Chloe George (aka Chloe Gasparini) who has co-written songs for other artists like Dua Lipa but became known on her own when her song “ghost town (voice memo)” went viral on Tik-Tok. On her first tour ever, she seemed very humble and grateful for the opportunity. Singing with just an accompanying guitarist, she performed a nice set to the delight of many in the audience. Many of the songs were off her latest EP “A Cheetah Hunting in Slow Motion”, released just the beginning of this month.
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The thrilling feeling emanating from the capacity crowd was palpable when Arlo Parks hit the stage. Her performance was not quite what I had expected since she did not stand still as many singer/songwriters do. Rather, she was constantly on the move, bouncing around the stage, slipping into and out of the shadows. Parks opened her set with “Bruiseless”, also the first track from “My Soft Machine”. She performed nine songs from that album with seven of them dominating the first half of the set. In between songs, she spoke softly to the crowd about various songs. Her music is very personal and feels even more so in this intimate venue. Parks doesn’t pick up the guitar until the “Sophie”, the third to last song of the night. While her accompanying band members mostly stayed in the background and shadows for most of the evening, it was interesting seeing the whole group rock out during the last couple of songs. Again, a pleasant surprise and a great way to end a lovely evening in Toronto.
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