Oklou – choke enough

choke enough, the debut album from French vocalist, producer and composer Oklou is mature and assured

Album Review by Ian Macartney | 04 Feb 2025
  • Oklou – choke enough
Album title: choke enough
Artist: Oklou
Label: True Panther
Release date: 7 Feb

On choke enough, Oklou's mature and assured debut album, any potential bombast is subdued, like it was recorded underwater. Throughout its entirety there’s a hint of the lushness of a Magdalena Bay production, or the whimsy of Astra King, except all hyperpop trappings are subtler, out of focus; they evaporate in the mix. A fleeting sense of distance comes through songs like thank you for recording and family and friends, strange chords drifting over autotuned voicenotes and sparse brass synth.

ict is a particular highlight, with giddy nostalgic lyrics delivered over shimmering trance-like stabs. The title track also beguiles – out of its patient intro comes rolling loops and snippets of topline, cohering, slowly, to form a hauntological take on Y2K rave. want to wanna come back is the most Caroline Polachek-adjacent track here, both in its alt-R'n'B groove and ‘want to wanna’, the distance of some half-remembered childhood desire, fading into the cutoff. blade bird ends the album, and when the 808s come in, it elevates to a post-dancefloor anthem – it’s like opening a window, to hear some mysterious sound from outside just a little clearer.

Listen to: ict, choke enough, blade bird

http://oklou.com