Projected from a silver light at the heart of the storm, French-born, London-based artist Oklou crafts a sound at the intersection of avant-pop and electronica — work with a rare generosity that isolates, navigates, and ultimately pierces through its listeners.

Mixing her brush across vaporwave, trip-hop, and trance, Oklou paints pop songs with a holistic touch. Her power extends beyond audio into the visual realm — most memorably in her NTS session, where three tracks from her newly released album Choke Hold were performed on an ice rink alongside a fleet of dancers. The performance unravelled a chaotic, icy language that runs beneath her art.

Before Choke Hold, there was Galore — her debut album, featuring collaborations with A.G. Cook and Caroline Polachek. That record revealed her murmured soprano and oceanic synths, transforming dispatches on isolation into glitch-pop hymns that felt both fragile and unshakable.

Where Galore placed listeners in a parallel universe, Choke Hold turns its gaze toward the everyday — weaving lush field recordings of barking dogs, cicadas, larks, and laughter into its fabric. Working alongside long-time collaborator Casey MQ, Oklou expands her soundworld with folk guitar, trumpet, and saxophone — instruments that bring new warmth and texture to her once all-Roland palette.

Oklou now brings her show to Australia and New Zealand as a part of Laneway Festival — a rare chance to step inside her world of glamour and fracture, light and sincerity, where every detail carries the weight of her singular vision.