Yesterday London based French artist and producer Marylou Mayniel, aka Oklou, released her diverse and affecting new EP, The Rite of May. January and February saw the member of Parisian All Female DJ/Radio collective TGAF* (These Gyals Are On Fiyah) release two high calibre singles from it in the lead up, the drama filled ‘Friendless’ and the club ready ‘They Can’t Hear Me’. We’re more than pleased then that the other two tracks and the two parted ‘Valley’ are in the same class. Today we share one of them, the delicate, poignant and slow burning ‘Samuel’.
Like on ‘Friendless’ you might think there’s a guest vocalist at work but both voices are Mayniel’s and she intertwines the natural with the heavily processed beautifully. That combination is applied deftly to every musical element and along with the use of space captures the essence of the record perfectly. It is also a reflection of both her classical music background and latent electronic proficiency, the latter recognised in the calibre of co-producers who joined her on the release – Bok Bok (Kelela, Night Slugs), Rodiah McDonald (The XX, Sampha), Sega Bodega (Crazylegs) and new Paris engineer Krampf.
The Rite of May is out on Nuxxe Recordings, a label co-owned and run by fellow French artist Coucou Chloé, and frequent collaborator, Shygirl and Bodega. Listen to ‘Samuel’ and ‘They Can’t Hear Me’ and watch the Kevin Elamrani-lince directed video for ‘Friendless’, written by Oklou herself below. Buy the EP here. Highly recommended.
Samuel
Oklou (FRA)
From the EP, ‘The Rite Of May’, NUXXE Recordings.
Oklou Facebook
Audio Stream
They Can’t Hear Me
Oklou (FRA)
From the EP, ‘The Rite Of May’, NUXXE Recordings.
Oklou Soundcloud
Audio Stream
Friendless
Oklou (FRA)
From the EP, ‘The Rite Of May’, NUXXE Recordings.
Oklou Twitter
Official Video
*TGAF are Carin Kelly, DJ Ouai, Miley Serious and Oklou.