The first thing one thinks upon hearing the sensuous-yet-violent intensity of Razors of Ockham is, ‘what do you call it?’. Rizzo laughs knowingly when the question arises. “I generally go with modern blues/folk,” he explains. “We don’t necessarily sound like those genres, but that’s where we came from. The blues goes back to the African American slaves: it’s very organic and honest, and it’s all about the voice. The sentiment of the blues is the sentiment of suffering – it wasn’t really about story-telling. That’s where Jessica’s [Koch] vocal comes in – she’s very serious and honest.
“The blues is dark music, but traditionally it’s heavily acoustic, and minor-key. Instead of depressive chord progressions, we wanted to use tones that could evoke those feelings. A few people have said that we sound like something from a Tarantino film. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but I think it captures the feeling of what we’re doing.”
If Razors of Ockham seem quite fully-formed for a new-ish project, it may be because Koch and Rizzo actually have a long history together. “Jess and I came from Voltera,” Rizzo explains. “We actually started Voltera, and this was our side project. It’s more stripped-back, and it’s a way for us to do something more organic – everything we do can be replicated live. I play a stompbox, harmonica and a guitar with a loop pedal, and Jess plays keyboard, floor-tom and hand percussion – and she sings. We’re working in some other elements at the moment, too.”
All in all, it’s a heady brew, and a lot for two people to be handling. Have they considered a third member, by any chance? “We’ve considered getting a percussionist, but it’s important that they’re able to extend what we’re doing. We don’t just want a regular drummer or a bongo player,” Rizzo says.
Of course, as a mere two-piece they’ve already managed to win the Elsternwick Hotel’s Grass Roots Indie Development (GRID) competition. Rizzo says that the experience was a positive one.
“The focus with GRID is supporting independent music, and making it more about nurturing your art, rather than competing with other bands, he explains. “It was fun, a good atmosphere and good turnouts. They’re developing a really eclectic network of acts, too – not just the usual guitar bands you’d see at every other pub in Melbourne.
“Part of the Elsternwick prize is a recording package,” he continues. “We’ve been writing and demoing a whole bunch of songs, and once we’ve worked out how we want to approach production and a few other things, we’ll get into the studio.”
It’s a common predicament for emerging bands, but Rizzo is refreshingly matter-of-fact about the largely symbolic nature of recorded output. “We do want to record an album this year,” he says, “but we’re not sure yet whether or not we’ll actually release it as an album, or an EP, or a just a trickle of songs for free download. The main thing is that people have something they can hear, so they can decide whether to check out the live show. For me, all the creativity and the art is in the writing and the performance, not the production.”
BY EDWARD SHARP-PAUL
