Oklou

Marylou Mayniel, better known as Oklou, is a French musician from Poitiers. She grew up in the countryside of western France and was classically trained in piano and cello at a conservatory, singing in choirs as a child. Her brother brought home CDs from the library – everything from Dälek to Gorillaz – opening up a world far beyond the conservatory walls. In 2013 she began uploading music online, and in 2014 she released her first EP, Avril, under the name Loumar. After moving to Paris in 2015 and later to London, the Oklou project gradually became something more – the EP The Rite of May (2018) on London label NUXXE established her in a circle of experimental electronic pop, and singles with producers like Mura Masa and Flavien Berger expanded her reach. Her debut mixtape Galore arrived in 2020 and quickly became a cult favourite in the internet’s more music-nerdy corners – a dreamy, futuristic blend of ambient pop, R&B, and soulful synthesizers.

Her debut album Choke Enough was released on 7 February 2025 via True Panther Sounds and marked a decisive breakthrough. According to Metacritic, the album received “universal acclaim” with a weighted score of 84 out of 100. Pitchfork described the record as a foggy fusion of Y2K worship, Baroque polyphony, and elegant, opaque ambience. The album was named the best of the year by Crack and Time Out, and ranked among the year’s best by The New York Times, Pitchfork, The Fader, Rolling Stone, and Dazed. Our Culture placed it at number one on their list of the 100 best albums of 2025. The record charted in several countries including France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, with guest appearances from Swedish rapper Bladee and American artist Underscores. In October 2025, a deluxe edition, Choke Enough: Expansion Pack, arrived with four new tracks – including “Viscus” with FKA twigs.

Her style is hard to pin to any single category, and that’s precisely the point. Oklou blends classical training with post-internet production techniques, ambient textures, trance elements, and an almost whispered, floating vocal that turns the intimate into something cosmic. As Dazed wrote: “It’s like walking in a haze – you can’t quite see where you’re going, but you feel your way anyway.” She is also a filmmaker – with prizes from Cannes – but it is the music that defines Oklou in 2025: an artist who finally made the world listen.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​