Canadian
Tristan Douglas produces conceptually driven experimental club music under the name
Antwood. His richly detailed, darkly humorous albums explore themes such as artificial intelligence (2016's
Virtuous.scr) and modern-day relationships (2019's
Delphi).
Originally known as
Margaret Antwood -- a pun on the name of a fellow Canadian, novelist Margaret Atwood -- Douglas gained recognition in the world of electronic music after the release of his 2013 Energy Plaza EP on the Cocobass imprint. The EP was a splashy, angular reworking of club styles ranging from juke to trap to ballroom. His 2015 follow-up, an EP titled Work Focus on the B.YRSLF label, consolidated
Antwood's mechanically influenced style and garnered more critical praise, despite his deliberately enigmatic Web presence.
After a move to
µ-Ziq's
Planet Mu label, his debut full-length arrived in 2016, at which point he dropped the Margaret prefix. Titled
Virtuous.scr, it was inspired by the development of artificial intelligence, a theme familiar to
Antwood given his background in molecular biology.
Sponsored Content, an ASMR-inspired concept album incorporating subliminal advertising, followed in 2017. A 2019 EP titled Alousia preceded
Antwood's third full-length,
Delphi, a concept album centered around a lovelorn character of the same name. ~ Simon Spreyer