PREMIERE: Ok Sure And Osopho Team Up For The Haunting ‘Blind’
Ok Sure and Osopho. Photo supplied.
Growing up, my dad would always listen to music that sounded like it had come from the core of the Earth. It was a lot of industrial, quasi-Satanic music that involved a lot of chanting and metallic noises. Think of the artists that were on Cold Meat Industry, and you’ll start to see what I mean.
I’ve previously written about Ok Sure and Osopho’s other project,Queens Of Club, which the duo are part of alongside Hai Priestess. They’ve collaborated together in the past, and their latest creation is Blind, a song that’ll soundtrack your nightmares. I don’t say that lightly. It’s full of gothic, skin-crawling sounds that will capture your full attention.
I’m premiering the track now, and I think Blind is a great example of what’s going on in Australian music. Both Ok Sure and Osopho are extremely talented, and I interviewed them about the track, as well as the time they went undercover at a Masterchef event, which is a great story in itself.
Ben Madden Firstly, can you introduce yourselves and your music?
Akaysha & Sal: We are Akaysha (Ok Sure) & Sal (Osopho). We met about 4 years ago & have been bonding over music ever since. Our styles really compliment each other & have helped us explore territories we wouldn’t have been able to solo. We tend to be drawn to the darker aspects of music, haunting melodies, warped vocals, big synths, cinematic strings & industrial drums.
You’re just about to release your new collaboration together, Blind – can you tell me the story behind the track and how it came together?
Akaysha: I started this track as like a soundscape piece and it grew from there - just a lot of fucking around, really. Like most tracks, there was no direction and I had no idea where it would end up. I came up with some lyrics that were inspired by an ex that was trying to rekindle something, which I had no interest in exploring (“you think we have grown/like a fine wine/but can’t you see our love/was meant to die”). A lot of the lyrics have evolved and Sal has added her spin, but that was the inspiration.
The song’s gothic aesthetic is quite captivating, and very, very eerie. What is it that draws you towards these darker, spine-tingling sounds when producing, when a lot of Australian producers would shy away from such Satan-inspired soundscapes?
Akaysha: Personally this is just the kind of music I prefer to listen to, I’ve never really been into pop music & I don’t listen to much music with vocals (even though a lot of our music has vocals). Maybe I should listen to happier music…might lift my mood lol.
The track is definitely one for fans of horror movies. Are you two fans of horror movies, and if so, what is a go-to when you’re looking to be spooked?
Akaysha: Nah, I actually really don’t like horror movies, I’m all about puppies and rainbows….can’t you tell? (Editor’s note - My bad).
Sal: No horror for me but I'm a fan of dark sci-fi like Blade Runner, Ex Machina and generally films with great concepts like Being John Malcovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Building on that – I can definitely see this song soundtracking a scene in a horror film. What kind of scene do you think this song would suit – what comes to mind?
Akaysha: Probably a jilted ex torturing their lover & setting stuff on fire or something.
Sal: a dark, horse-themed burlesque show. I saw this once in a Berlin club - I've never been the same.
You’ve also been working together as part of Queens Of Club. Now that you’ve been producing together for a little while, how has your understanding of each other’s style developed?
Akaysha: I’m still always amazed at what weird and wacky things Sal comes up with. She starts Ableton files in random places and tbh I’ll never understand that.
Sal: Akaysha has an impeccable workflow. She can snap up something with lightning speed. I muck about and throw samples and synths all over the place to try to create something interesting, to Akaysha's horror.
I hear that you both love to eat out in Melbourne. Do you have any anecdotes, horror stories or recommendations you want to share?
We could dedicate an entire interview to this. A couple of months ago we got tickets to be diners for the Masterchef challenge at Movida. We went incognito (blonde wigs), drank far too much orange wine, tried not to stare at the judges & Sal pretended to eat the food because they served raw scallops and she hates seafood. We then got interviewed about cumquats and had to say the word ‘cumquat’ an uncomfortable amount of times. Despite all the food we ended up at Embla for dinner afterwards. 10/10 day of eating (apart from the raw scallops for Sal).
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Finally, what are the next two steps for you both, both personally and music-wise?
We'll be writing away, hopefully conjuring some even quirkier electronic madness. I'm (Sal) trying to swindle Akaysha into MESS (Melbourne Electronic Synthesiser Symposium) to experiment with different synths. We’ve also got the next Queens Of Club single to put out & hopefully collab with other creatives. Personally, we’re just trying to get through these crazy times and out the other side.
You can follow Ok Sure on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.