In darkness, we’re practically wired to chase any bit of shed light that can guide us to comfort. If you’re truly scared enough, adrenaline can push you ever so slightly for that return to protection. Some grab for their phone flashlights to illuminate the darkness, others forward themselves blindly. Woesum on the other hand, seeks for shielding through instrumental synth and complete aim for prophecy.
Woesum, a new name to none in the village of Swedish musical gems, recently released his new EP Protected. With a swift six tracks, we find Woe in moments carried through an electronic trap sound, grounding itself in something far more transcendent. With nothing more than the talent in a single pinky, the producer has already conjured the kind of tracks that have carved his name into music disciples and headphones alike years ago. We spoke with the Swede and turned-out meanings otherwise hard to find by autoplay within his newest instrumentals, uncovering his experience with mourning, anticipations for touring, and intensities large enough consume.
Before anything, it’s important to say that Protected has been insanely sick to listen to. I’m hoping you’ve had a good time releasing it and thank you for hopping on!
Thats sick, I’m glad you like it. It’s honestly good to have it out. It’s new grounds in a way, so I’m glad that’s how you feel about it already. I’m happy about it myself.
Seeing a project that is greatly your own was super refreshing as a fan. How has working on this EP been? Was it a cathartic process or more of a calculated vision in approach?
When it comes to the way I do a project, I find it to be almost impossible to make anything in terms of an idea. In general, whether it’s a song or a project, having an idea almost never works for me. This project is similar to how I made Blue Summer for example. I always make new music and then the thought comes in after a while where you’re like, ‘wait, I actually have all this different stuff and full songs that are starting to make sense together’, or, ‘there’s a song here I want to dive into more’. This EP was very much that case, and there’s some stuff here that’s four or five years old. MourningStar is probably the freshest one, and L.L.L was done before the pandemic.
The idea for the EP came up a year or nine months ago. I wanted to do something that was more intense and heavy sounding that was like a continuation but also a polar opposite to last year’s EP.
The idea for the EP came up a year or nine months ago. I wanted to do something that was more intense and heavy sounding that was like a continuation but also a polar opposite to last year’s EP.
I will say, Paradise Tree is a pretty lullaby coded project. As a listener, it feels like we’re finding you in a rather harder state, and it’s feeling all the more trappy. Why the jump of something so heavenly to something grounded and intense?
I think in a way they’re both the same, but it’s just two sides of the same coin. Both represent what I am musically in a lot of ways. There’s just so much on my computer that I wish I could put out there right now. During the time of Paradise Tree, I was like, ‘damn, I don’t want anyone to think that this is what I do. I have all these other things that are very aggressive or base heavy and whatnot, and they’re both equally important to me’. I guess if we’re thinking about it in lullabies, I think Paradise Tree is the one to fall asleep to and Protected is the one to wake you up.
You previously mentioned works you’ve wanted to hear in the club scene, wanting it both “loud” and with lots of “bass.” Now that it’s out, have you been able to witness that vision in such a setting? How’s that reaction been?
Honestly, not as much as I’ve wanted to! I played in Copenhagen two weeks ago and I think post-release was the first time where I could actually play it out live in a way where people have actually heard it before. Besides that, I’ve been playing a lot of these songs for a while now. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to go out at all since I did this release. These days I’m almost constantly in the studio, so I think with the tour coming up is the time to show the music the way I’ve been wanting it to be heard and experienced.
I think for live shows in general, it’s gonna have elements of both the calm before the storm and the storm itself. I’m excited for the tour to see it all live in a proper setting, and I’ve personally been missing venue and club settings, so it’s best to be able to show what I mean by that.
I think for live shows in general, it’s gonna have elements of both the calm before the storm and the storm itself. I’m excited for the tour to see it all live in a proper setting, and I’ve personally been missing venue and club settings, so it’s best to be able to show what I mean by that.
“When it comes to sobriety and such, the song HowManyDays? feels like when I’ve been the deepest in my struggles. The intensity is almost like a panic-inducing feeling.”
Your headlining tour starts in five days, moving through so many cities and clubs. What are you most excited about?
It’s gonna be an audio-visual experience, so there’s gonna be a whole visual component to the show, which has been the most work when it comes to this tour to get that feeling right. So that’s the exciting part I would say. It’s the first time I’m gonna have proper visuals playing, and that was very important for a lot of these songs. In general, with the visual components, everything makes sense. That’s the part that’s gonna be fun to try out in a live setting.
It’s not any of these 4:00 am shows, it’s gonna be a proper venue, earlier type of show, which I am very excited about. I’ve done this before, in shows where you play a very calm song when it’s 4 am but it’s a risky move and it’s definitely cleared out some floors, so what I like about this tour is that there’s going to be more room for me to play anything without people being too drunk or worrying about having to go into the party vibes the later it gets.
It’s not any of these 4:00 am shows, it’s gonna be a proper venue, earlier type of show, which I am very excited about. I’ve done this before, in shows where you play a very calm song when it’s 4 am but it’s a risky move and it’s definitely cleared out some floors, so what I like about this tour is that there’s going to be more room for me to play anything without people being too drunk or worrying about having to go into the party vibes the later it gets.
Having people come for you must be exciting outside of the pop outs!
Yeah, it’s exciting and terrifying at the same time, but if it’s not scary, I feel like you’re doing something wrong. It’s so close now that I want to get started already. But it’s also new territory and definitely not something I thought I was going to do a few years ago, but now, being here, I know it’s gonna be fun.
You collaborated with Damon R. on Pressed, Off the bat, it starts quickly with a legible bounce. How was working with him, and what sparked the collab?
He’s so sick. It was very easy, and I think the song was more or less done in an hour. It was very smooth. I was in Los Angeles at the time, last Fall, I think. Being out in the US, I met him a lot of times and we have a lot of mutuals. We were just like, yeah, let’s do something! We’ve only been in the studio one time and that’s what got out of it, so I would say quite a successful session. I was in love with the song and decided that I wanted it to become of the main tracks for the project.
The visualiser is sick. It starts out with that hand-spelled Woesum and I was instantly hyped!
Yeah, that’s all my friend Guz Reichwald, who's amazing and one of my oldest friends. I’ve known him since maybe eight or nine. Same with Femi, the girl who’s dancing. Guz is one of the best ones out there, in my opinion. He was down to try something that was not as pretty or lullaby-ish, something that felt more like a party. So when he sent me the first draft, there were no notes on any of his ideas. I was loving it! Big shout out to him.
Under the track’s visualizer, a listener commented, “Protein powdery af tunes.” It feels oddly on point. What’s your take on relating the track to chasing gains?
The comment is hilarious; I can’t really hate on it. I hear it too though, you definitely get gassed up at the end of the day. They kind of hit the nail on the head with that one. I guess nightclub or the gym too, I think what you listen to serves the same kind of purpose.
HowManyDays? hit me immediately — it feels like bullets and smoke, and it’s arguably the most intense track. But the title feels nearly romantic and reflective. What’s the story on the contrast between the title and track?
Unfortunately, the title it not as romantic as it might sound like. It’s more connected to struggling with sobriety a lot. I think one of the constant things that comes up is the question of ‘how many days has it been since?’, you know? When it comes to sobriety and such, the song feels like when I’ve been the deepest in my struggles. The intensity is almost like a panic-inducing feeling, and I know the repetition of that question well. When you break sobriety, it’s like, ‘damn, it’s been that x amount of days and you’re back to square one’. The feeling is how the song felt to me when I was making it. This song is a year old now.
Do any other songs on this EP have a pipeline towards sobriety or is this more of a scattered-out project?
It’s all Protected, the song, and the title in connection is that end of the day feeling of ‘I’m still here’. I’ve been doing this for so long alongside all of my friends and we’ve been through a lot of wild stuff. There’s a lot of intensities and stuff that could have killed us and whatnot throughout the years. I think Protected was me trying to find the light and positive side of it all. It does feel like we have some kind of protection around us all.
Can I hear more about MourningStar?
It’s kind of a double entendre. The day of the rollout with Protected was my birthday and I also had to attend the funeral of my grandfather the same day. Leading up to that, you kind of knew it was coming. It’s hard to explain, but when it comes to sobriety, I think the mornings are the scariest parts. The stars are still up, but the morning is coming. It’s also the ending track, if that makes any sense at all.
It’s also a double entendre because one of the graphics on the cover, done by Glyvees, looks like this weapon called a Morning Star. It’s almost like a cherry weapon, but it’s also the name of this Medieval weapon as well. It’s in tune with HowManyDays? in Protected and almost like the spiritual aspect of it, alongside the harshness of this weapon that looks extremely painful. It falls in line with everything for me.
It’s also a double entendre because one of the graphics on the cover, done by Glyvees, looks like this weapon called a Morning Star. It’s almost like a cherry weapon, but it’s also the name of this Medieval weapon as well. It’s in tune with HowManyDays? in Protected and almost like the spiritual aspect of it, alongside the harshness of this weapon that looks extremely painful. It falls in line with everything for me.
Protected in its entirety feels like both armour and prophecy. Looking back on it now, what do you feel most proud of?
It’s hard. I feel weird when it comes to my own music and getting to pat myself on the back. The part I’m really happy about is just how the visual components came together with it. It felt like a mission impossible. Caia Lee, the art director, had this concept of getting different designers together that we both really like have something on the cover. It was a lot of work, but I’m really proud of the final product. I’m just happy about how it works together through the music, and it all fell in line. It was a huge collaborative process, and I’ve never worked with this many different graphic designers, so that part was all new grounds.
Especially the song Protected, it’s very much the song I wish I heard as a kid. I think it was the most shocking sound and I don't think people expected that, so it was fun to start with that song as the single.
Especially the song Protected, it’s very much the song I wish I heard as a kid. I think it was the most shocking sound and I don't think people expected that, so it was fun to start with that song as the single.
I guess my last ask is how can you prep people who are coming to hear you for this tour? What can they come to expect?
That’s a pretty tough question, but I think I’d say expect even more of a visual element to this project and to the music that I’ve done. It’s gonna be all self-productions and no other songs for the first time, so it’s gonna be cool. I think just come with an open mind and be excited.
