New Music Reviews: Eddie Chacon, CMAT, Oklou, etc

It’s 2026 now, but I’m still working through some 2025 releases.

New music reviews might be an overstatement here – Eddie Chacon released Lay Low last January, while Oklou’s had a baby since releasing Choke Enough.

Eddie Chacon

Lay Low

2023, 7.5/10
Eddie Chacon’s first band was Fry By Night – a trio formed with his childhood friends Cliff and Mike. Impossibly, all three went on to success in different bands – Cliff Burton became the bass player for Metallica, while Mike Bordin has drummed for Faith No More throughout their career.

Chacon didn’t follow his bandmates into rock – he worked as a songwriter before joining forces with Charles Pettigrew. The pair met on the subway, one of them holding a copy of Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man. As Charles & Eddie, the pair enjoyed a worldwide hit with 1992’s ‘Would I Lie To You?’

Charles & Eddie folded after an unsuccessful second album – Pettigrew passed away in his thirties from cancer, while Chacon stepped away from the music industry for a long while. He restarted his musical career when he was introduced to John Carroll Kirby, a producer who has worked with popular alt R&B acts like Solange and Frank Ocean.

As on his previous solo record, Chacon blends classic 1970s soul textures with the resigned wisdom of age. Lay Low deals with his mother’s passing, almost a decade earlier.

Today is the 10 year anniversary of my moms passing and LAYLOW, is written all about losing her, grieving her and ultimately finding laughter, gratitude and joy in her presence that I came to realize is still with me everyday. ♥️ RIP Mom. Miss you always.

Eddie Chacon, Instagram

It’s dark and minimal – the appeal is the emotional gut punch, especially at the end of the record. Songs like ‘Let the Devil In’ and ‘End of the World’ are even more gloomy than the rest of the album. It’s not an album for big hooks, but ‘Let You Go’ feels like a low-key reflection of a 1970s Marvin Gaye track.

When Chacon sings “la la la” at the conclusion of ‘Birds’, it’s not the usual joyful trope, but mournful.

CMAT

Euro-Country

2025, 7.5/10
Ireland’s Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson is up to her third album. But this is the first one where she’s changed Irish history along the way. I’ll let Wikipedia explain:

In a 2023 interview in Hot Press, CMAT said “If Bertie Ahern goes for the presidency, I will actually make it my personal fucking mission to make sure that he doesn’t win.” In advance of the 2025 presidential election and speculation that Ahern was seeking a nomination to run, CMAT released a single, “Euro-Country”, referencing Ahern and including the lyrics “All the big boys, all the Berties, all the envelopes, yeah, they hurt me…” and “I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me.” The attack on Ahern was widely covered in Irish media. Ahern later announced he was no longer seeking his party’s nomination.

Wikipedia

CMAT’s modus operandi is similar to Lana Del Rey, a lovely voice delivering offbeat sentiments over a lush backing. CMAT often utilises country textures on Euro-Country, and she’s best when she’s energetic and sassy.

She’s full of personality. I love the aside on ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ – “Hmm, this is making no sense to the average listener/Let me try to explain myself in a few words”. On ‘Take a Sexy Picture of Me’ she sings “You haven’t looked at me the same since I turned twenty-seven/Where goes my potential? Oh, she’s up in heaven”

Euro-Country is fun, but it might have also changed the course of Irish politics.

---

Los Thuthanaka

Los Thuthanaka

2025, 8.5/10
Los Thuthanaka is a collaboration between two Bolivian siblings. Chuquimamani-Condori has already forged a career as an electronic producer, while her brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton joins her on bass and guitar.

On Los Thuthanaka, they reimagine traditional Andean music from the duo’s Aymara heritage. The Aymara are the indigenous people from the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America.

It’s intense for a largely instrumental record, where each track has a different sound world. There’s the demented house of ‘Kullawada ”awila”’ (Queer Grandma), while ‘Jallalla Ayllu Pahaza Marka Qalaqutu Pakaxa’ sounds like a video game soundtrack, while Huayño “Phuju” (Spring Fount) features folk guitars.

Los Thuthanaka is a fascinating synthesis, a deserved critical favourite.

---

Oklou

Choke Enough

2025, 8.5/10
Oklou (pronounced “Okay Lou”) is the stage name of Marylou Vanina Mayniel from Poitiers, France. Choke Enough is her debut album, following her 2020 debut. Her classical background, where she played piano and cello at a conservatory school, bleeds into her poised pop music. It’s synthetic, like a modern pop music record, but features classically inspired instrumental lines, like the trumpet on ‘ICT’.

When I work on things, I’m interested in the tenderness. Even when I’m working with more punchy elements, I always need to find some sort of softness. Softness in the sound, something very round and dark.

Oklou, Pitchfork

It’s all gorgeous, but ‘Harvest Sky’ is the most vibrant track, busy and full of ideas.

Oklou withholds the hookiest track to the end – the succinct, pretty ‘Blade Bird’ closes the record.

Oklou’s pop with classical touches is effective on Choke Enough.

Read More

• 2025 albums on my to-do list
• New music reviews