Kaya Wilkins AKA Okay Kaya is never one to let her music go stagnant. It’s therefore unsurprising that in her final single before the full drop of her album, she would mix it up entirely.

The single prior to “Psych Ward”, “Asexual Being,” was a throbbing ode to 80’s dance music inflected with new wave synths, an upbeat rumination charged with sexual frustration. However, Okay Kaya strips it back with her brand new single. Relying almost entirely on one repeated guitar riff to make up the body of the song, “Psych Ward” sounds like a jaunty indie-pop banger. As a track, it evokes flashes of Pixies in the ringing electric guitar that swells to hold the song firm. Wilkins vocals, layered and harmonic, possesses a buoyancy that creates a delicious joviality; whilst the song is about a psych ward, it’s surprisingly fun in tone.

The video accompaniment sees a despondent and catatonic looking collection of patients following instructions in various group activities, including “dance”, painting and ping pong. This is interspersed with a playfulness, shown in one shot where a “patient” sticks her tongue out at Wilkins to have her return the gesture.

True to Okay Kaya’s unorthodox nature, the visuals also have shots of the “patients” writhing around in the dark, shot in night mode to give the bodies an ominous luminescence. This is followed by a glaring red and blue light, which turns out to be sourced at a strip club, as Kaya Wilkins swings around a pole under the pulsating lights.

The entire vibe of the song, the dichotomy of the very real experience Wilkins had in a mental health institution paired with the impishly fun tone constructed by the soundscape, creates a tongue in cheek listening experience. Watch the accompanying video, that she co-directed with Adinah Dancygerand, and pre-order the album via Bandcamp below.

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Norwegian-born, New York-based artist Okay Kaya will release the follow up to her 2018’s debut Both in a bit more than a month. So far, we’ve already heard two singles, “Ascend And Try Again” and “Baby Little Tween,” which both came with a video. She has now unveiled a third video for a new track off the project: “Asexual Wellbeing”. The song, which opens with the lines “Sometimes I rub my ghost dick until i can almost see it”, explores sexuality and desire. The lo-fi visuals were co-directed with Adinah Dancyger.

About the video, she commented:

“sland mud house

horses and stringy apple tree

blood of beet meals

baby in a moth suit clipping the

clothing-rack soon dry

look out for a field

be fire and dv’s and shitty driving good music

imitate algae in the coolest jacket to exist

loving your loved ones like it’s never going to end don’t let the hand deject you

except the shadow it gives

paint face true Scandinavian inappropriate

hang out by historical landmarks and feeling

NOTHING”

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From the watery depths in her last single “Ascend and Try Again” to the heights of a stratovolcano in “Baby Little Tween”, New York via Norway alternative pop singer-songwriter Kaya Wilkins AKA Okay Kaya has explored the expanse of Japan through raw video footage.

“Baby Little Tween” was shot on location in Niseko, Japan, on the vast Mount Yotei, aided by Okay Kaya’s frequent collaborator Adinah Dancyger. However, unlike the intense slow-motion close-ups of Kaya Wilkins naked form that was on display in “Ascend and Try Again”, “Baby Little Tween” places the loftiness of Mount Yotei and Okay Kaya’s decidedly wrapped up figure at the forefront.

Despite the visual differences, the video for “Little Baby Tween” possesses the same rolling sense: a ponderous ebb and flow that comes from the motion of Okay Kaya as she traverses the mountain on skis. The camera work dips in the right places to create a delicious tension; the stillness of Wilkins gaze, when intercut with the moving skiers, is pleasantly jarring.

The video has a short clip at the end titled “There is a River” and features Okay Kaya voicing a stream of consciousness style monologue over shots of a Japanese city at night. This spoken addition feels like a Brett Easton Ellis composition in the way that it has that teenage apathy and a languid nature.

This clip is preceded by Okay Kaya cutting off a portion of her braid that’s attached to – what we can presume – is a visual representation of her “tween” self, in the form of a head shaped cushion entwined with her braid.

From a musical perspective, the track demands attention from the deep and resonating “Ahh”’s overlapping one another at the beginning. The resulting sound holds the same kind of reverence and respect that religious buildings have. It brings to mind the commanding presence of a church choir booming. This opening harmony sounds like a call to directly to the listener to truly be present for the track.

“Baby Little Tween” is overarchingly an interesting exploration of what it’s like to look back on your younger self. With lines such as “surfing in the mids” – referring to mid-’20s or middle-aged – and “doesn’t know shit”, Okay Kaya explores that teenage arrogance of always being right and thinking you know everything about everything. She also covers the realisation that comes as soon as you grow up: no one knows anything and we’re all sort of scrambling along.

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Okay Kaya – “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself” tracklist:

01 “Baby Little Tween”

02 “Ascend And Try Again”

03 “Insert Generic Name”

04 “Overstimulated”

05 “Psych Ward”

06 “Guttural Sounds”

07 “Asexual Wellbeing”

08 “Popcorn Heart”

09 “Mother Nature’s Bitch”

10 “Hallelu Ya Hellelu Me”

11 “Symbiosis”

12 “Givenuptitis”

13 “Helsevesen”

14 “Stonethrow”

15 “Zero Interaction Ramen Bar”