Oklou – choke enough

Sometimes you hear a record and immediately have an image in your mind. With Oklou’s choke enough, for me it was an enchanted forest.

Not a kitschy one, but something mysterious, floating and a little unfamiliar. Voices appear somewhere in the room, small shimmering sounds come and go, and some passages feel almost choral or medieval. Alongside them are thoroughly modern electronic sounds.

The album was released on 7 February 2025 and is the first regular studio album by the French artist Oklou, whose real name is Marylou Mayniel.

Classical roots, an electronic sound world

Once you know a little about her background, this unusual sound suddenly becomes easier to understand.

Oklou trained classically on piano and cello and sang in a choir. Later, she became deeply involved in electronic music, production and club culture. Those two worlds meet on choke enough: classical harmony, multiple vocal parts and almost fairy-tale melodies on one side, digital textures, electronic beats and altered voices on the other.

Even on my first listen, I had the impression that for her the sound comes first and the words follow.

And that is often how she actually works. Atmosphere, chords, melodies and tonal colours come first; the lyrics often emerge later. Her voice therefore becomes almost another instrument within this sound world, rather than simply a conventional lead vocal.

That is probably one reason why choke enough feels so cohesive.

The record does more than tell its stories through individual songs. It builds a space in which those songs take place.

A space for the songs

“endless” opens up this world very gently.
“thank you for recording” plays with the fascination of real recordings, memories and observation.
“family and friends” explores expectations, family and the question of what we actually want for ourselves.
The title track “choke enough” deliberately stays more abstract: it is more about feeling and being overwhelmed than about a clearly defined story.
And “Harvest Sky” suddenly opens this floating world further towards dance and trance.

Those shifts are exactly what I like.

The album stays atmospheric without ever becoming monotonous. It can be quiet and almost weightless, then become more rhythmic or physical in the very next moment.

A modern, digital enchanted forest

Sometimes this music even reminds me a little of Cirque du Soleil. Not because the styles match exactly, but because of that feeling of being drawn into another world. It is music that immediately creates pictures in my mind: light, mist, movement, imagination.

For me, choke enough is therefore less a record you listen to for individual songs. It is more a small sound world that you step into.

Or, indeed, a modern, digital enchanted forest.

And that is exactly why it is my recommendation of the week: Oklou, choke enough (2025).

What stays with me

A little musical enchanted forest

I hope you enjoy immersing yourself in this enchanted forest. And if you like the record, it is definitely worth listening to her other work too. Oklou has plenty more of this very distinctive sound world to offer.