Oklou
Marylou Mayniel (born April 23, 1993), better known by her stage name Oklou, is a French producer, vocalist, and composer. Her popular EP, The Rite of May, was released in March 2018 on NUXXE, a London-based label. Stand-alone single "Forever" was released in October 2019, with singles "SGSY", "Toyota" (featuring Flavien Berger) and "entertnmnt" (produced with Mura Masa) following it. In July 2020, she announced her debut mixtape, Galore, due to be released in September 2020. A video for the lead single, "unearth me", directed by Parisian Kevin Elamrani Lince was shared upon announcement. Working with computers, drum machines, synthesizers and found sounds, she makes music that has been described as "hazy R&B" by Pitchfork. She has previously released some of her self-released work on home-dubbed cassette tapes. Mayniel grew up in the French countryside, then relocated to Paris and eventually moved to London, where she currently resides. In her Q&A with Dazed, she revealed that her biggest vocal inspirations are Frank Ocean, James Blake, Justin Bieber, SZA, the singer of Wu Lyf, Jhené Aiko, Drake and Palmistry. She composed an original soundtrack for a computer game called Zone W/O People, created with Parisian artist Krampf, and performed it live with styling by Prada. She has also performed as a DJ as part of the Parisian all-female collective TGAF.