EJ WOOD
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Interviewer/Writer: Aysha Swanson
Photos: Kelsey Doyle
There’s a controlled fragmentation that runs through EJ Wood’s music, where ideas don’t arrive fully formed so much as assembled from pieces, cut and re-cut until they settle into something precise. Across his recent releases, including his upcoming release “dogtorn” and its paired companion “sleepintheheat”, he builds a world that feels both intimate and slightly dislocated.
“dogtorn” in particular sits in that tension. A title that already implies damage and tearing, it becomes something more complex in practice: a song about companionship, mutual reliance, and the strange comfort of shared emotional weight. That sense of instability carries into his broader approach to making music. EJ Wood speaks to a process where writing, recording, and production are not separate stages but intertwined and guided more by instinct than revision.
Ahead of its release on the 10th of July, I sat down with EJ Wood and found an artist who thinks less in individual tracks and more in world building, where instrumentals act as architects and pairing songs becomes a way of expanding emotional space. In EJ Wood’s work, fragmentation isn’t something to resolve, but something to lean into.
AYSHA: Firstly congrats on your upcoming single, “dogtorn” feels like a title that already carries tension in it, can you talk about where that title came from, and what kind of emotional landscape you were trying to map out with the track?
ETHAN: The word ‘dogtorn’, it means something that’s just been completely shredded to pieces in not a very gracious way. Like it’s been kind of ripped up by a dog, there’s kind of nothing flattering or beautiful about it.
It kind of felt like a word that resonated with how I felt at the time of writing the song. My partner and I were going through similar things at the same time, and the song ended up actually being about dealing with these negative experiences together and being there for one another.
So, at the end of the day, the song is almost kind of a bit of a love song about having someone you can depend on. You have lyrics like “dog torn, black and blue, and I only bleed when you do,” so it’s kind of like we bleed together when we go through things.
The general message is, as messed up as you feel, you have someone to feel those emotions with you, like a companion. There’s many references to dogs throughout this song and future songs, and a lot of that stems from that strong feeling of almost unspoken companionship. I’ve been using the metaphor of dogs to examine different relationship dynamics, and in this particular song, it’s really about companionship and comforting each other.
AYSHA: Similar to your previous release ‘DCMA’ you have paired this track with another. How do you approach pairing songs for a release like this, what makes two tracks feel like they belong side by side rather than standing alone?
ETHAN: My approach comes from two places. One is that I’m just a big fan of instrumental electronic music, there are a lot of times that’s what I want to make, so I have a lot of these things sitting on my computer. I need an excuse to put them out and pairing them with a song makes that more palatable.
I’m also really big into world building. My favourite artists have records littered with these short interlude tracks that add to the mood and overall world. Sometimes it’s hard to get that from a condensed pop track.
So these instrumental tracks serve to build out the EJ Wood world, they’re thematic extensions of what happens in the main track. They just worked really well together.
AYSHA: This release is paired with “sleepintheheat”, were they produced with the intention of being released together, or did that pairing only come later on?
ETHAN: No, not originally. I made “sleepintheheat” when I was in the snow, which is ironic. It was just something I made because I felt isolated. It ended up working thematically because “dogtorn” touches on anguish when you’re away from loved ones. That was a main emotion when I made that track, so when I thought about pairing something, it really spoke to me.
I touched it up to fit better, but I’m a big believer in trusting intuition, and there was a strong feeling they should go together. Even without lyrics, it still carries that emotion. Sometimes texture and harmony can speak louder than words.
AYSHA: I feel like your music has this fragmented sound in the culmination of a really unique sonic world. The idea of fragmentation seems embedded in the title “Dogtorn”, is that something that shows up on purpose, in structure or production choices? Or something that comes naturally?
ETHAN: Yeah, that comes from my workflow. I do a lot of sampling; I love repurposing things and mixing them together. It’s like collaging, you strip something of its context and place it into a new one.
That’s where the fragmentation comes from, I’m taking different things and finding ways to make them work together. It also reflects how I think as a person, a bit fragmented and all over the place, so it just comes naturally.
AYSHA: Kind of on that, was there like a moment where you feel like dog torn kind of clicked into place or did it come together more gradually over time, like working on it for a while?
ETHAN: It used to be a completely different song. I had the guitar parts, but everything else was different; drums, vocals, production. I had it sitting for six months.
Then I stripped everything back to the core parts I liked and rebuilt it. After that, it came together really quickly, one of the quickest I’ve finished after that turning point. Every song is a completely different process. This one towards the end, came together really well.
AYSHA: You’ve kind of answered this question, but when you look back at that earliest version of "dogtorn", what's, what do you think's the biggest thing that changed, like, lyrically, sonically, or like, just even how you kind of understand the song?
ETHAN: Lyrically and thematically, it changed completely. Originally it was about wanting solidarity and companionship from someone who wasn’t giving it, I was the only one who felt “dog torn” in the relationship.
When I changed the instrumental, it felt more hopeful, and I didn’t want every song to be negative. I don’t feel like a wholly negative person, so it didn’t feel right. So it flipped, sonically and lyrically, simultaneously.
AYSHA: Because your work is self-produced, I'm curious how like writing and the recording process, like do they overlap a lot?
ETHAN: Yeah, I mean, the writing, recording and producing stage is all the same stage for me. I will kind of just record things as I go and generally the things I record in the writing stage end up being in the final product.
I don't really re-record things except for vocals. I'll kind of do demo vocals and mess around and just kind of riff on ideas until I write lyrics. But all the instrumentals are usually first take. There's not really many redos. When I try to redo stuff, it sometimes doesn't have the same spark. So I just try to get it right the 1st time, generally.
AYSHA: And I was wondering, what role maybe collaboration plays in shaping these tracks, if any?
ETHAN: For these tracks, not much, it was mostly a solo effort. Collaboration was more in the form of getting opinions from friends.
But there are songs coming later that are more collaborative. This one felt very personal, like I could do everything I needed myself.
AYSHA: You have a really strong visual pairing with your music. And I was wondering if there's any specific images, environments, or materials that have kind of influenced that?
ETHAN: I try to make music that evokes escapism, I like putting the listener in a different sonic world. Something alien but familiar and warm at the same time.
The visuals reflect that, imagery that feels nostalgic but with a new spin. I’m a big film fan, and I try to balance those influences while keeping it unique.
With this song, the visuals are pretty literal, there’s a dog in the artwork and video – shout out to Buster. That reflects the themes of companionship, just me and the dog hanging out.
AYSHA: I love that, I feel like the idea of escapism really links to your visual, especially because it's hard to see your face in a lot of the photos and so you can kind of imagine whatever you want there.
ETHAN: Yeah, yeah, exactly. The whole thing with the overexposed photos is that I don't really want my image to be the thing attached to the song. I think that the songs should be more at the forefront and the general visual aesthetics rather than just like my appearance as a person. I think that's like the least important thing.
FIND EJ WOOD HERE
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