ArtistInfo

Jeff Sampson

voc,
Electronic

Jeff Sampson is a sound artist whose primary instrument is his voice. He also uses synthesizers, electronic effects, computer software, field recordings, and percussion. He’s been using his voice in expressive, emotional, melodic ways since before he could articulate words. His early years were spent in rock bands of various types, mostly singing other people’s songs but gradually growing into writing his own lyrics. In the early 1980s, he began to work wildly and widely with different musical structures. Often highly experimental, these excursions ranged from spoken word to drone, from angular rock to dark, rhythm-based remarks on human nature. After a failed attempt at participating in a neo-prog rock band at the end of the 1990s he’s been focusing on atmospheres and soundscapes, in collaboration with others (Embracing the Glass and Sampson-Ayers, for example) as well as solo. Along with the need to express what he feels, his main intent is to prompt someone’s thought process, and thoroughly enjoys hearing about where the listener’s imagination has taken him/her.

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