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Soft Centre

by Iko Chérie

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      €9 EUR  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    LP cut at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin, printed inside-out, with inlay and black inner sleeve. Design by TEOTH. Pingipung 093.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Soft Centre via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
    ships out within 9 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €23.90 EUR or more 

     

  • Limited Test Pressing (designed and kissed by Iko Chérie)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A highly limited edition of vinyl test pressings, each individually designed and kissed by the artist, making every piece one of a kind. >>One copy per person.<<

    Includes unlimited streaming of Soft Centre via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

    Sold Out

1.
Soft Centre 03:57
I want the power of a thousand witches I want the world to change I want violence to end I want to rise in love I want to talk to a certain rose I want to find my soft centre I want to see the prime colour of my heart I want to feel the fourth dimension of this instant I want to taste the salt of the ocean I want to be connected to the earth I want to add myself to the leaves I want to sway in the high branches I want to understand animal language I want to wake up pale from nights of wild dreaming I want to dig deep I want the vision I want the pleasure of thought I want to go beyond thought I want to ride on the astral plane I want a good game I want to remember your voice
2.
Luciférine 05:10
Waves of Luciferin On Our last night out Everyone glowing Pacific Ocean at midnight I can still remember your name But I can‘t quite remember the sound Of your voice when you loved me Agitated Sagittarius Your Aries arises and wonders Where are you now? Chewing on ice cubes at the cocktail party? You used to say Fire is older than water Fire walks with me And I miss the sound Of your voice when you loved me I peel a tangerine Pondering How is your life? Pictures of your kids at the office? Gamblers are still playing It’s all about the last card Gamblers are still dreaming What about your voice when you loved me? Don’t worry baby I won’t come and haunt you I’ll be a reed sighing I’ll be the wind That blows away your troubles Transient, ancient, a grain of sand In your hand Soft and golden Just like your voice When you loved me
3.
Ghosted ghoster of the Holy Ghost Kind of cool, kind of cold, kind sometimes Child of the sun the sky turns you on Do you pray to the stars that they change your cards? Do you think of me sometimes? My oh my, I’m so over you now Good days when I heard your voice American College Football season A season of love Feel the tremendous lack But baby don’t look back You can’t put your arms around me For I am just a memory My oh my, I’m so over you now Modern rituals, sacred fractals Pollen on the pool, getting high Tell me you love me even if it’s a lie And have a drink on me honey My oh my, I’m so over you now Maybe I was just another fool In your set of rules Pawn in your game Way of the chessmen You go down in my DMs Until I see you again My oh my, I’m so over you now Pink and blue emotions, Going through the motions Of this astral path Of yours and mine Call me sometime
4.
Hey lover tell me why I'm still waiting to hear back Is there another girl, another guy Why you not calling me Calling me now Hey lover tell me why I'm still waiting to hear back Don't be cruel to be cruel I thought you had soul Was I too much Or not enough? I m losing my cool I looked at my Dms My email, my spam Also asked the postman You're nowhere to be found I looked at my DMs I thought we had a thing Also asked the postman You're nowhere to be found Is there another girl, another guy Why you not calling me? You ghosting me now Oh I won't lie I liked you alright We had just one night And I am ghosting you now
5.
Isn’t it time?
6.
Bilbao 03:01
I remember a time A long long time ago A time we were in love And we went to Bilbao Walking down the museum Was it so long ago That we were together You and me in Bilbao Bilbao, now there’s another Another love And you go To Bilbao Now it’s another Another life There you go Looking for someone you could trust Can’t settle in the rust You gotta love life Bilbao
7.
La Luna 03:46
Porque no quieres ver Que este mundo está tan lindo Por la noche La luna contempla el mar La tierra, los ninos Todas las maravillas Y se desespera Llora la luna llora Esta destrucción continúa
8.
The sea around us Is a mystery Have you ever wondered About the deep blue sea Can you hear the orcas Complex harmonies Have you ever wondered About the chant of the sea Unresolved resonant whistles Gracious song of the wild Are we going to listen To the ocean’s roar Will it reach the shore Tears in the sea Sailors let the whales go free Stop searching for silver and gold Crystal clear sea water has it all Precious corals Let them be Voice of a porpoise Heart of a dolphin Soul of an Octopus The end and the beginning Intricate relations of all living things Forever flowing Vast endless dream Tune into the tidal Rhythm of the sea Contours of the abyss Magnificent bliss Imagine the world As it could be
9.
Girl Word rolls On the tongue Stick it out A growl A purr Enjoy being A girl With true grit With true love With power You like intelligent women
10.
You left me here with half a metaphor I rolled with the punches, asked for an encore Cruelest month, tenderest feelings Under the super moon staring at your dreams Empty pillars, Apollonian scene Will you ever put me on a pedestal? Forever yours Tu étais ma muse Et j’étais ton féal

about

Soft Centre is the new album by Iko Chérie, the solo project of French-born, London-based multi-instrumentalist Marie Merlet. She blends dub-inflected textures, pop tinged vocals, reverb-drenched guitars, Casio drones, and warm experimental noises – creating her own intimate, fragile sound. 

Self-produced and largely performed by Merlet, the album grew from an introspective process, with many sketches recorded in transit between tours. The result is a deeply personal work, balancing light and dark in a Lynchian dream-pop haze. Songs such as We Smoke That Peace Pipe and Bilbao shimmer between vulnerability and resilience, while the single Ghosted Ghosters of the Holy G captures the immediacy of a one-take dub bass. Some pieces retain the quality of improvised snapshots (Intelligent Women, Half a Metaphor) while others reveal her meticulous production process and songwriting craft (Tears in the Sea, Luciférine). Merlet defines Soft Centre as alive in radical tenderness, unguarded, open, and vivid.

Influenced by Clarice Lispector’s prose, Diane di Prima’s poetry and Rachel Carson’s environmentalist writing, as well as Marie’s fascination with a vintage Roland Space Echo, the album is an invitation to connection that she describes as “... hopefully a meditation into healing.” 

A versatile musician trained in classical piano, jazz, and electroacoustic composition, Merlet has long moved between different worlds of sound. She has worked with Laetitia Sadier in Monade, performs with Gina Birch (The Raincoats), Malphino, Yama Warashi, and several other groups, she recently appeared on the latest Stereolab album. 

Her debut solo LP, Dreaming On (Elefant Records, 2015), revealed her singular melodic instincts; with Soft Centre she ventures further inward, shaping her own distinctive voice in experimental pop.

“Through an unseen threshold lies a room of warmth, stitched with melodies of quiet hope"
Valentina Magaletti

“Marie Merlet aka Iko Chérie has landed new music of a divine nature. Divine because it speaks of the Ocean, it speaks of witches, it speaks of justice and things unseen, it speaks to sensitive people who know that there is importance in telling our truth and making a just noise that may find its echo in the dark, amplified by the atoms of resonance, coming to life through a song with a wholesome story.”
Laetitia Sadier

“Iko Chérie has the soundtrack for your dreams. A soft and warm embrace that invites us to navigate this world with an open heart.”
Coco Maria

credits

released November 7, 2025

All songs composed, arranged, produced and recorded by Marie Merlet
Except music on A1 co-written with Nick McCarthy
Mastering by Jonas Romann at Chaos Compressor Club
Vinyl cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover photo by Arthur Sajas
Inlay photo by Alex Sadier Gane
Design by Teoth and Marie Merlet
Pingipung 093
© & ℗ 2025 Pingipung

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Iko Chérie London, UK

Iko Chérie is experimental pop made in London by French artist Marie Merlet who feels most at home in dub textures and analogue noises. Her world is one of woozy incantations, Casio drones, reverb drenched guitars, ethereal flutes and gleaned spoken word samples processed through tape delay. ... more

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