A Chat With: Izakman
Rock music has exhausted almost every avenue of songwriting it has available to it but the trip-hazards and mind-bends of Lewis Carroll and Brothers Grimm’s classics is one fruit that has rarely been picked. Rock risers, Izakman, have seized the opportunity with flare on their upcoming record ‘Cyber Love’ and we got a chance to shoot some questions over to songwriter and frontman Itamar Isaak to dig a little deeper…
RR: What to you is the best rock album of all time and why?
I have several favorites, but I’ll go for the rock opera Tommy by The Who.
The album’s subject matter is heartrending and timeless, following a deaf, dumb and blind boy and his experiences with life and his relationship with his family. It has a fantastic narrative flow from start to finish. Musically and energetically, It stands the test of time. Epic! You come out of it in a different state than how you started.
RR: How did you first discover rock music?
I was first exposed to classic rock music when I watched The Yellow submarine for the first time as a child. Still, I only became aware of rock music at school when many of my friends were into 90’s grunge and metal bands. Everybody wanted to pick up a guitar, put on distortion, and shred in my teenage years.
If you wanted to be “cool” and impress your friends, you would have a skateboard or play soccer and play loud electric guitar.
RR: How would you describe the current state of rock/alternative music?
I think it’s all fragmented now because of the internet. I don’t know who the new most prominent bands are anymore because they’re so many now. I mainly get to hear about new psychedelic and indie rock bands. I guess it’s due to the internet’s data from my searches.
My latest discoveries are “UNI”, which a friend introduced me to, The Swedish band Dungen and Amy & The Sniffers, which I found randomly on the internet or perhaps I got targeted on YouTube. All are brilliant, and I hope to see them live one day.
RR: Who is your current favourite rock/alternative artist and why?
It’s hard to pick just one; recently, I’ve been more interested in discovering obscure rarities and traditional music from around the world. Nevertheless, I admire Pond for Nick Allbrooks confrontational charisma and cheeky showmanship.
Their latest album, “9”, is my favorite release I have encountered so far from last year, for its fun unapologetic energy and great emotional yet sophisticated songs from start to finish.
RR: Do you see the genre evolving in any particular way at the moment? For good or for bad?
Following psych-bands I like, such as “Tame Impala, Pond, UMO Temples”, and the Israeli “Iogi”, I think the majority are leaning towards the lusher and synthesized sound.
Production-wise, you get to hear a lot of amazing and exciting sounding stuff. But, still, artistically, I feel the approach has become somewhat escapist. You always have the exceptions like the Israeli Electric Zoo, which are more raw and rebellious in their approach. And Izakman off-course.
RR: Can you tell us about how the idea for the ‘Cyber Love’ music video came about and its significance?
Cyber Love was spawned from a feeling of alienation and deals with reaching out across cyberspace, social media platforms and dating apps and the struggle to make a true and meaningful connection.
The idea for the clip was inspired by Pina’s Bausch performance “The Man I Love”. The song expresses an individual’s frustration from poor communication. The theme of poor communication is reflected in the music video, which includes elements of Sign language, Morse and Braille, which are all used to overcome an obstacle in communication. The song may suggest that technology can be an obstacle to intimacy rather than a means to achieve it.
RR: How would you say this new album compares to 2015’s Rabbit Holes?
“Rabbit Holes” was made entirely D.I.Y. I had no method and no experience in music production before.Some of the songs I performed and mixed entirely on my own with no one else involved but for me. The song “Sleeping the Day Away” appears in different versions on both albums.
I tried to capture the sound of a late 60’s obscure psychedelic record. The new album was produced in a more “old school” way – in a proper recording studio, with a live band and Roy Nizzani as the producer. Roy’s approach was modern up to date. At the same time, mine was a more classic 70’s rock, resulting in a fascinating sounding record.
RR: Are there any sort of visual elements planned for the other tracks on the album as there was for Cyber Love?
Yes, “Down the Rabbit Hole” is also accompanied by an animated music video produced by Saloniki animation studio – Addart. I developed both “Cyber Love” and “Down The Rabbit Hole” music videos with my neighbour photographer Shay Ben Efraim who also filmed them and has worked with me throughout Izakman’s activities.
The new video is inspired directly by Lewis Carroll’s work across mathematics and literature; the video follows a young mathematician lost in a mathematical wonderland pursuing the solution to a complex equation – a solution that manifests as Alice. The video showcases a new mathematical branch, Soft Logics, that challenges the binary nature of true/false limitations.
Cyber Love is available everywhere on 27/01/22
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