Soko – “I Thought I Was An Alien”

Soko is a French artist of considerable international popularity — her key track “I’ll Kill Her” has racked up over 1.5MM YouTube views — and yet I only heard about her when my friend Brandon first pointed out her YouTubes have in excess of 1.5MM views. She’s collaborated with Spike Jonze before — and again here — so of course, she’s on far more important radars than mine. This time, Spike supplies his skill as an iPhone cameraman to capture the love affair between Soko and a very convincingly disguised alien, in L.A.’s Echo Park, with both her brother Max and his (Sam Spiegel) in the mix. Soko directs, and the track and vocals are all her as well: loping and chirping, woozy and whimsical, just what you’d want on the OST for say, a Sundance indie film about an intergalactic love affair. You can see Soko’s acting chops at play, too; she is very convincing in the role of “cute human.”