GENRE: Electronic
LABEL: Warp
REVIEWED: 16th September, 2025
After years of anticipation, Swedish producer and vocalist Oli XL has finally delivered his first release under Warp Records. Lick the Lens Pt. 1 is a compact but striking mini-album 25 minutes of warped textures, playful beats, and fractured pop moments that demonstrate his obsessive attention to detail without losing a sense of spontaneity.
Oli XL has always blurred the line between experimental electronica and approachable pop, and here he does so with flair. Fans had waited since his 2021 single Go Oli Go! and often joked online with the hashtag “#FreeOli,” a nod to his long struggle with label contracts. The wait pays off: Lick the Lens sparkles with eccentric charm, sounding like IDM filtered through a glossy, social lens rather than something buried deep in the underground.
Compared to his 2019 project Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer, which leaned on floating breakbeats and introspection, this new chapter feels more extroverted. Influenced by everything from K-pop mini-album formats to indie-tronic shimmer, Oli embraces a world where glitch, pop, and dance collide. His songwriting often resists closure, leaving emotions suspended in air rather than neatly resolved.
Standout track HOODIE MUSIC strips percussion almost entirely, his understated vocals floating over dreamy chords. On DRIFT REGALIA, his voice nearly dissolves into gossamer melodies, while CONSPIRACY GIRL evokes Sweet Trip’s restless dream-pop before vanishing as suddenly as it begins. The closest thing to a proper pop anthem arrives with LOVE & POP featuring Chanel Beads—though even here, catharsis remains diffused in vaporous hooks and glitchy beatwork.
The album thrives on collaboration, with five features woven into its brief runtime. These moments feel communal, as if friends were passing around a laptop, each adding their own sonic fingerprint. NOSEBLEED MELODY pairs Oli with Ecco2k for a helium-soaked trip-hop experiment, while MUTE THE WORLD nods cheekily to Simian Mobile Disco’s Hustler, fusing past dance nostalgia with Oli’s future-facing production.
Ultimately, Lick the Lens Pt. 1 feels like a carefully constructed micro-universe: glitchy, dazzling, slightly claustrophobic, yet oddly social. It affirms Oli’s reputation as a tinkerer who thrives in detail but still wants to connect. Like earlier Warp greats rustie, FlyLo, Prefuse 73 he transforms experimental sound design into something playful, shareable, and alive. This isn’t just IDM for headphones; it’s music that imagines itself being passed among friends, each hearing something different in its kaleidoscopic blur.
