French songwriter and ethereal dreamscaper Oklou (real name Marylou Mayniel) transports us happily back to a bedroom Balearic state.
The 31-year-old creates pitch-shifted dream pop and, on her spectral debut album, levity and maturity make strange bedfellows.
Over the rolling, ringtone-like glissandos and medieval modulations of early singles ‘harvest sky’ and the title track, the mood is tentative and questing.
Mayniel’s intimate vocals offer light sophistication.
Lyrically, she rejects the techno-malaise and over-saturation that comes with being chronically online.
Forged with muted bloops, computerised melodies and the guest production of A. G. Cook (the pop-world wizard behind PC Music and, more recently, Brat) the album’s 13 songs throw out some instrumental quirks too – tinny pizzicato on ‘blade bird’ and Miles Davis-esque trumpet wisps on ‘ict’ – but they risk overshadowing the music itself.
The pop of choke enough’s is a welcome palate cleanser, but some will turn on, tune in and drop out.
