Theory Therapy 89: Joanna OJ
Music for watching waves roll in
Theory Therapy mix number 89 comes from Joanna OJ, who moves between Caen and Paris with a quietly nomadic spirit. A devoted digger with a taste for hybrid forms, her sets drift through deconstructed ambient, intimate breaks, haunted voices and low-slung bass pressure, threading fragments into something fluid, dreamy and emotionally charged.
This mix was recorded for the launch of the exhibition Birth of a tide, and carries that same sense of wandering through shifting spaces: meditative passages, field recordings, soft accelerations and moments that feel suspended just outside of time.
Hey Joanna. How are you today?
Hi Gary, feeling emotional as the festival I work for is over after 3 magic weeks running the city of Caen with artistic installations, performances and parties.
What was the last song you listened to?
‘Sidescan’ by Twerking Class Heroes after buying it on Bandcamp.
Where do you most enjoy listening to music?
Chilling at home or at other people's places. Also, even if it doesn’t happen often, I love being on the road and driving while listening to some music with the scenery passing by the window. But most of all, music often keeps me company while I get vortexed on the Internet.
What’s been on repeat for you this month?
Since I found this one, I can get enough of it. I’m entirely obsessed.
Are you more of a headphones listener or a sound-system person?
Soundsystem but good soundsystem! I think it’s important to put much care into setting the soundsystem. I have some hyperacusis so I don’t spend much time listening with the headphones.
Tell us a bit about your musical background – what was the first album that really stuck with you, and when did you start djing?
I think if I had to pick into my memories, Negative Fascination by Silent Servant is one of my all time favorites since it has been released! Around that times, I was listening to some dark music, like industrial techno, repetitive and deep/dub techno. After getting a loud sound and visual slap in the face at Atonal in 2015, I naturally went through some experimental music, digging into the catalog of Posh Isolation and Northern Electronics. I crossed eras where I mainly listened to one genre of music and then, I kind of completely opened my spirit, and now hybridation is my mantra. I’ve always been an eternal digger but started mixing around 2019, doing podcasts and radio shows, and I played some of my first gigs in 2021.
What’s your favourite thing about living in Paris as a DJ, and how does the city shape your relationship with music?
I started going out regularly to parties in Paris, back in the 2013’s, going to clubs like concrete, rex, batofar, badaboum, showcase and this is how I got into the electronic scene, losing myself in the dancefloor energy.
Where’d be your ideal place to play live?
Let’s teleport to an ancient stone quarry to play a dancing set, and in the garden forest of an abandoned castle to spread waves of a listening set.
Talk us through your Theory Therapy mix – where it came together and what kind of space you were in mentally or musically.
I played this set for the launch of an exhibition called Birth of a tide. The idea was to create something sweet and dreamy, like a wandering in a city, inspired by the diversity of the artists who presented their work. Voices haunting, field recordings, meditative moments and acceleration peaks. An ode to distracted lovers resonating with the inner essence of Theory Therapy <3
Where would you recommend listening to it?
I guess it could fit while doing an artistic activity like drawing, making collage, sewing, making jewelry or graphic design, whenever you feel inspired.
What’s on the cards for 2026?
Embrace life, hopefully some dainty surprises!