French vocalist, producer and composer Oklou returned with “family and friends” in September 2024, the first solo single since her highly celebrated full-length mixtape galore. The new song is an ethereal, haunting reflection on the mystery of life, with production that features arpeggiated marimbas, lush choral textures and intricate sound design. “Are you even real?” she asks in her cryptic lyrics. The single arrives alongside a music video by director Gil Gharbi that shows Oklou and her friends running through desolate suburban streets as the camera darts searchingly. Describing the track, Oklou shares, “‘family and friends’ feels like a battle almost. where I’d be searching for answers to unstated questions, escaping from something intangible, invisible. A memory? Maybe I like the idea that I’d be running away from something, and I’m looking for good reasons to run. Maybe I just like that.”
Born Marylou Mayniel in the countryside of Western France, Oklou’s first musical experiences consisted of classical piano and cello lessons before she fell in love with electronic music and took up production. Mayniel eventually moved to Paris, where she hosted weekly radio shows and performed her first live shows as Oklou. After two EPs, 2017’s For The Beasts and 2018’s The Rite Of May, Mayniel received international acclaim, accelerated through collaborations with Mura Masa, A. G. Cook and EASYFUN (the last two both producers of Charli XCX’s Brat) and culminating in her full-length mixtape galore in 2020. It was a turning point in her artistic life, heralded as an innovative and introspective work by fans and media, with Dazed praising as “sophisticated in its composition yet totally cutting edge in its sound.” International touring followed, including support tours with Oneohtrix Point Never and Caroline Polachek.
