Choke Enough - Oklou
Released February 7th - Via True Panther
By Mark Velazquez
Some albums play in front of you. choke enough unfolds around you.
Oklou’s debut album feels less like a collection of songs and more like an environment the listener steps into. The project is built on world-building, pacing, and emotional scale, with each track intentionally placed within a larger landscape. On first listen, there is a sense of distance and smallness, like standing inside something expansive and unfamiliar, looking outward rather than inward. choke enough does not rush to define itself. It allows the space to develop.
The album’s flow plays a major role in that immersion. Songs transition and dissolve rather than start and stop, and interludes are treated with the same importance as full tracks. These instrumental moments expand the album’s atmosphere instead of interrupting it. The track “(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)” introduces distant screeching sounds that resemble birds, layered with a soft melody and what feels like crashing waves. It is a brief passage, but one that strengthens the feeling that this album operates within its own ecosystem, where organic and synthetic elements blur.
Another interlude by the name “forces” returns to those bird-like textures, this time paired with a spoken monologue reflecting on unseen forces in the universe. The voice speaks about currents that push people in certain directions whether they recognize them or not, about being guided and trapped, before transitioning into “Harvest Sky.” These moments without lyrics do not function as breaks so much as connective tissue, giving the album continuity and internal logic.
“Ict” highlights Oklou’s control of tension. The track opens with nearly a minute of instrumental buildup, using swelling horns, drifting tones, and sustained anticipation. When the beat enters, it feels less like a drop and more like a shift in space. The horns shape the emotional arc of the track, creating momentum that makes the transition feel intentional rather than explosive.
“Harvest Sky” extends the album’s sense of scale. The song feels wide and suspended, reinforcing the record’s futuristic tone. Much of choke enough carries the feeling of a distant, imagined city, something illuminated and in motion but never fully grounded. The title track reflects a similar balance, pairing vulnerability with a cinematic quality that keeps emotion slightly removed rather than fully exposed.
For listeners familiar with Oklou’s earlier work, particularly Galore, there is an added layer to hearing this album in full. The singles released ahead of the project felt like fragments, individual pieces of a larger design. In sequence, those pieces settle into place. The surrounding tracks and interludes give them context, filling out the emotional and sonic structure the standalone releases only suggested.
choke enough ultimately works because of its commitment to atmosphere. It values pacing, texture, and continuity, allowing meaning to form gradually rather than through immediacy. Oklou approaches the album less as a set of individual songs and more as a designed space. It is a record that rewards time and attention, revealing its shape the longer you remain inside it.
Tracklist —
choke enough
(2025)
Endless – 3:36
Thank You for Recording – 2:57
Family and Friends – 2:57
Obvious – 2:16
ICT – 3:28
choke enough – 4:00
(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`) – 0:48
Take Me by the Hand (feat. Bladee) – 2:52
Plague Dogs – 1:46
Forces – 1:05
Harvest Sky (feat. underscores) – 3:54
Want to Wanna Come Back – 2:46
Blade Bird – 3:19
Total runtime: ~36 minutes
