Oklou shares “family and friends,” the artist’s first solo single since the release of her full-length mixtape galore. The new track 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 song is accompanied by a Gil Gharbi-directed music video that features Oklou and her friends evading an unseen predator as the camera searches hauntingly. 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.”

The French vocalist, producer and composer will be playing a “family and friends” show in New York City on September 19th, followed by a DJ set on September 20th at The Meadows in Brooklyn, where she’s headlining a party hosted by SKSKSKS, with support from Hyd, Physical Therapy and Petal.

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 collaborated 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.

Order “Family and Friends” HERE