LARUICCI X HIGHSNOBIETY
THE UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM OF OKLOU
IN CONVERSATIONS WITH FKA TWIGS
When musician Marylou Mayniel’s debut album, Choke Enough, dropped in February, it represented two and a half years of work. The 32-year-old French artist, who performs under the name Oklou, had spent so much time with the music that she’d almost lost sight of it. “If I’m being honest, I wasn’t very confident” about the release, she says. “At the end of making the album, I felt like I needed more time.”
The reception was beyond anything she’d imagined. Mayniel “comes into her own as an artist,” wrote Pitchfork, calling Choke Enough “expressive” and “dynamic.” Stereogum noted that she “masters playfulness with looming unease,” and Paste dubbed her the “future-facing steward of gentle pop.” The songs themselves are ethereal and propulsive, projecting a sense of longing through tripping vocals and judiciously deployed synth. At its core, the album explores “what situations are we ready to put ourselves into in order to provoke sensations and drama — in order to feel alive,” Mayniel said in a statement last fall.
All the acclaim represented an arrival of sorts for Mayniel. She’d released an EP — For The Beasts — in 2017 alongside collaborator Casey MQ, and Galore, a mixtape, three years later. She’d been a buzzy voice in the European underground scene long before that, co-founding an all-female DJ group and working closely with label and collective NUXXE. She was heavily involved in the early SoundCloud era, whose free-form nature inspired her to start creating music. For years, her momentum had been building.
The swell has coincided with a new era in Mayniel’s personal life. In June, she’ll give birth to her first child. Even as she’s been on a global tour for Choke Enough, “I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’ll keep my child curious,” she says. “As a mother with my own expectations for my life, I’m excited to try not to project that too much onto this future human.”
Here, the artist sits down with fellow moody electro-pop maven FKA twigs, one of her early sonic inspirations. The two discuss their days trolling SoundCloud, mind-alterning nature of carrying a child, and (as exclusively revealed in this conversation) their upcoming song collaboration.
Oklou: My introduction to music happened when I was pretty little: playing with dolls at home while my brother was playing piano. In terms of creation, it started more with dance and drawing. I allowed myself to start creating my own music when I was much older because for a while I thought I’d just be interpreting music from other people. I didn’t even think I would be able to write music myself.
Oklou: I had a few music classes, and I was very lucky to have incredible teachers who were into having fun while learning music theory and how to play instruments. That was a good beginning; it made me love going to classes from a young age. My mother also helped me practice every day. So there was a constant learning atmosphere without it being too rigorous. The goal was never to make me or my brother little music geniuses at age five. That wasn’t the case at all.
Oklou: I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’ll keep my child curious and their imagination running. As a mother with my own expectations for my life, I’m excited to try not to project that too much onto this future human.
I think what marked me as a child was seeing my parents be passionate about something themselves. Seeing my dad dance with that much passion, I was like, “Oh, that’s what I want to do. I want to feel the same way.”
Oklou: The realization came circa 2013 when I was spending a lot of time online. SoundCloud was a big game changer. I mean, I guess there was something else before that like MySpace, but I was too young to use it. I uploaded my first pieces of music to SoundCloud. It was also feeling like I was starting to be part of a community of people doing the same thing, just uploading drafts, and it didn’t have to be finished or professional. It was the game, and it was really, really exciting. I remember at the time a band called 18+ that I was a big fan of.
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Oklou: Yeah.
Oklou: It makes sense because that’s when I came across your EP. That’s when I discovered you and when I first heard about Arca, who you’ve been working with. At the time, I was not sleeping. I was spending my nights on Logic and trying to recreate what I was hearing. All of this scene and experimentation was part of a whole internet thing happening. It was the beginning of everything the PC Music people were making and also Sad Boys, so very exciting times that encouraged me to try myself.
Oklou: I don’t know if I have an answer to that because the process was so different. I was in such a special, intense place while making Galore that even if I wanted to compare or try to see the evolution from one to the other, it would be hard.
Galore was made in such a small span of time. It took me a few months to realize that I had the material and the desire to do an EP. I don’t like to say “message,” but the energy I wanted to encapsulate was pretty straightforward. With Choke Enough, it took me a lot longer. I worked on it for two and a half years. I wanted to take the time to get out of a pretty intense and depressing period of my life. The research was not the same. The emotional involvement was different as well. It was a different team with different objectives.
The only thing, I would say, that remained the same was my need to be as proud as I could be about the music. I was answering questions on Instagram earlier, and someone asked, “When do you know when a song is good?” and that’s what I said. Because obviously something being good or bad is up to one’s appreciation. So for me, it has to do with if I feel proud of it. That’s the main thing: feeling like I’ve done something meaningful and good.
Oklou: Movement is something I’ve been wanting to do for years. I used to dance a lot, and I don’t anymore, and it’s really sad. I’ve been saying this over and over to my team, I’m like, I really need a movement director. Sometimes when I watch music videos from other artists, I develop this kind of obsession with two seconds of a video because the movement is so accurate with what’s happening in the music.
Oklou: Rihanna in… what’s the name of the music video? The guitar cover. DJ Khaled.
Oklou: Exactly, “Wild Thoughts.” At one point she does something like this [shimmies] with her shoulders, and it feels perfect. It’s almost like synesthesia — if this moment in the music had to be a move, it would be that one. And it’s a feeling that I love.
Oklou: If I’m being honest, I wasn’t very confident. At the end of making the album, I felt like I needed more time. At the same time, if I’d had more time, it would’ve been infinite. I was a bit frustrated to not feel like it was the right time without knowing if I could ever get rid of that feeling. So the reception being very positive was obviously a blast.
Also, being pregnant, my brain has shifted a little bit. I feel like my consciousness has naturally, without me even trying, gotten rid of any source of stress and anxiety. It’s pretty impressive. I guess it’s hormones, but it’s like I have forbidden myself from any source of stress or disagreement. So I’ve experienced the entire campaign of the album without being touched by bad comments or negative reviews. I wouldn’t necessarily read them, but there was something protecting me and my baby.
Oklou: Yeah, it’s an actual tool. It works.
Oklou: I would never ask any specific thing. I'm happy, if you like what you hear, to do whatever you want. That's what I'm excited about when I work with somebody.
Oklou: It's an excellent question. The song is actually about… I have had tummy aches since I was a child. I mean…
Oklou: Oh, wow! Well, you know what? It's the main inspiration. I kind of go through all of these sources of anxiety and talk about my body as a conflicting relationship.
Oklou: Yeah!
Source: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/oklou-fka-twigs-interview/
Credits:
Photographed by: Mical Valusek
Styled by: Pierre de Mones
Styling Assistant: Johan Kierasinski
Glam by: Kevyn Charo
Set Design by: Marc Ferrer