Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Oklou, pronounced “Okay-lou”, is the stage name of Marylou Mayniel. She is French, although you wouldn’t know from her singing. Her lyrics are in English, fluently delivered with a faint American accent. Her main collaborator is a Toronto-born electronic musician called Casey MQ. She has also worked closely with AG Cook and Danny L Harle, two leading figures from hyperpop, the microgenre that began in London in the 2010s. It reached both apogee and culminating point with Charli XCX’s Brat last year.Hyperpop is, or perhaps was, an ultra-online form that treats mainstream pop as its IRL flipside, the soundtrack of everyday life. Its frenetic, exaggeratedly computerised sound, with synthetically delivered vocals about technology and feelings, has affinities with accelerationism, the futurism-style theory of unstoppable digital transformation. But Brat’s huge impact has unbalanced hyperpop’s delicate position in relation to the mainstream. What was once a form of commentary is now the chart-pop product that it used to comment on.Arriving a leisurely five years after her mixtape Galore, Oklou’s debut album Choke Enough locates a way forwards. It has hyperpop elements, such as the singer’s breathy, computer-distorted vocals or the connoisseurial Eurodance routines encountered in “Harvest Sky”. But the general approach is reflective and calming. The singer’s tone is usually sincere, sometimes whimsical, but never arch. The result resembles a grown-up form of hyperpop: decelerated, no longer so hyper. Highlights include “Thank You for Recording”, a charming number with an electronic pizzicato effect and sweetly cascading melodies. Oklou murmurs cryptic lyrics about boredom and the alternative reality of recordings. Her close-framed singsong delivery makes it seem as though she is leaving a melodious voicenote to herself. “ICT” stands for ice cream truck, not information and communications technology. A trumpet solo like a summer breeze takes the edge off its busy build-up of beats and ice cream van jingle.The production, mainly by Oklou and Casey MQ, is immersive and headphone-friendly. We sink into a warm synthpop bassline in “Obvious” while a psychedelic ringing effect tinkles at the edge of hearing. But this intriguing album promises more than it delivers. A number of bitty tracks, like sketches, disrupt the flow in the second half. Closing song “Blade Bird” flutters around ineffectually. Appealing textures fail to disguise a lack of dramatic action. Choke Enough is on the right track, but its full potential slips elusively away.★★★☆☆‘Choke Enough’ is released by True Panther/Because
