Arlo Parks’ Gen Z Folk-Soul Redemption

THIS 2O-YEAR-OLD singer-songwriter from London is getting “voice of a generation” hype in the U.K., and there’s no doubting the allure of her music, which is equally influenced by Elliott Smith and Frank Ocean. Arlo Parks sings subtly and feels deeply on her debut,

Collapsed Into Sunbeams, which takes its title from a line in a Zadie Smith novel, spinning tales of Gen Z emotional malaise over tracks that land between R&B, indie pop, and folk.

The highlight is “Caroline,” a delicate evocation of watching a couple fight on the street that gets inside other people’s pain with the empathetic literary beauty of classic Ray Davies.