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Jon Thompson grew up in a small industrial town outside of Houston, Texas. Close to the coast, it’s the sort of small American town where his only window into the bigger world of music was staying up until 1am on a Sunday night to watch 120 Minutes on MTV. Perhaps it was this, as much as anything else, that led him to pick up a guitar and seek solace amongst the rhythm and the sound.
After stints in many bands, Jon turned his 4-track diversion into his main project. Upon visiting the Tate Modern in London, he christened the project Oppressed by the Line; named after a quote on a placard under a painting by Yves Kleine. The quote read, “I adopt the cause of the colour oppressed by the line”.
The painting is gone, but the music remains. After 3 years in London, in which he released his debut, “The Cause of the Colour” on Club AC30, OBTL stands ready to release the follow up. “Soft Focus”, is overall richer in texture and more thoroughly realized than it’s predecessor. Soft Focus is 10 tracks of mournful melodies and sonic bliss.
Excerpt from Norman Records Review:
“Trying to excersise my mind muscles this morning with Oppressed by the Line’s ‘Soft Focus’ CD. It’s a fine collection of wistful electronic pop songs with an old skool heart, constructed with modern technology. Passages of enveloping, caressing sound make me think of a less Radiohead indebted Julian Fane. Waves of warm yet melancholic sound tussle with simple beats and delicious keys whilst hazey, longing vocals drift amongst the shifting chords like sad, drifting clouds. It’s hard to describe just how satisfying this music is. I can hear AR Kane & Depeche Mode influences in there, possibly acts like Seefeel but this has a rudimentary richness to it, an originality I can’t put my finger on. It’s dream pop with some very emotive, almost classical keyboard sweeps. Some tracks have that blissed out processed guitar chime on that totally makes the hair on your spine stand up, amongst tracks constructed within fields of haunting ambience. The beats totally compliment the songs as they gently embellish the music rather than overwhelm it with progressive trickery & smart-alec glitch/boffin-breaks! A treat for downtempo electronic music fans & yr modern shoegazers, this CD on Drifting Falling may well be a future masterpiece. I feel my words have nowhere near done it justice, for it’s 10 crystalline songs are beautifully rounded and very moving! Excellent indeed!”