viscus

Pregnancy changed Oklou’s mind as well as her body. “I feel like my consciousness has naturally, without me even trying, gotten rid of any source of stress and anxiety,” she told FKA twigs when the two artists spoke for Highsnobiety earlier this year. On “viscus,” from the forthcoming deluxe edition of Oklou’s debut album, choke enough, the French electronic pop star-in-the-making meets one of her direct influences in the ether. At first, the track sounds right at home among the album’s filigreed miniatures, but then the tinny percussion, vaporwave synthesisers, and chamber orchestration begin to interlock at new angles, forming a glittering exoskeleton.

As she told Pitchfork in our cover story, Oklou’s creative process runs on late-night Logic sessions and long periods of isolation. “viscus” yearns to swap digital ideas for real bodies. “I get lost so deep inside me,” Oklou intones—perhaps a characteristically oblique nod to the chronic stomachaches that she and twigs had bonded over. “The body is a temple/Am I worshipping too hard?” When twigs’ voice enters, it’s from the other side of the stereo mix, beckoning us from the cloud down to the club. Oklou has said that she used to dance far more than she does today; on “viscus,” we hear those muscles start to engage again.