Biography
Jacob Long, recognized by indie listeners through his roles in the Dischord-affiliated post-hardcore band Black Eyes and the bass-heavy, rhythm-driven post-punk outfit Mi Ami, works alone under the Earthen Sea name on experimental ambient and techno projects. His solo recordings emphasize shadowy drones and slow-moving dub-techno in the vein of Loscil, Deepchord, and the Sight Below. Among numerous limited editions, he has delivered several albums on the established drift-rock label Kranky, notably 2022’s Ghost Poems—captured amid the first COVID-19 lockdowns and folding everyday domestic noises into his subdued electronics—and 2024’s Recollection, shaped by trip-hop and ECM jazz sensibilities.
Long first issued Earthen Sea pieces in the early 2000s while still active with the Washington, D.C.-based Black Eyes. Those early limited cassettes and CD-Rs combined violin, tape decks, and keyboards to shape unsettling soundscapes. After Black Eyes disbanded in 2004, he relocated to San Francisco and launched Mi Ami with former bandmate Daniel Martin-McCormick, releasing multiple albums and EPs on Quarterstick, Thrill Jockey, and 100% Silk. Mi Ami claimed most of his focus, yet a handful of Earthen Sea cassettes surfaced during the band’s run.
By the arrival of Mi Ami’s 2012 album Decade, the group’s music had turned fully electronic and house-oriented, just as Martin-McCormick began issuing comparable work as Ital on Not Not Fun and Planet Mu. Earthen Sea placed the Mirage EP on Martin-McCormick’s Lovers Rock imprint in 2014, though its techno leaned inward and restrained rather than club-directed. Following an abstract split LP with Insect Factory, the full-length Ink appeared on Lovers Rock in 2015. The digital EP The Sun Will Rise came out via Nicolas Jaar’s Other People in 2016. After moving to Brooklyn, Long released the odds-and-ends collection A Serious Thing and his Kranky debut An Act of Love in 2017.
Kranky followed two years later with the third album Grass and Trees, presenting a pared-back, skeletal form of dub techno. Ghost Poems arrived in 2022 on the same label, preserving Long’s spare approach to electronic dub while incorporating household samples recorded at home during the pandemic’s initial phase, with sounds such as clinking silverware, room ambience, and dropped plates integrated into his vaporous textures and deep drum patterns. Recollection surfaced in 2024, blending live acoustic instrumentation with downtempo loops to recast Earthen Sea as a “piano trio.”
Long first issued Earthen Sea pieces in the early 2000s while still active with the Washington, D.C.-based Black Eyes. Those early limited cassettes and CD-Rs combined violin, tape decks, and keyboards to shape unsettling soundscapes. After Black Eyes disbanded in 2004, he relocated to San Francisco and launched Mi Ami with former bandmate Daniel Martin-McCormick, releasing multiple albums and EPs on Quarterstick, Thrill Jockey, and 100% Silk. Mi Ami claimed most of his focus, yet a handful of Earthen Sea cassettes surfaced during the band’s run.
By the arrival of Mi Ami’s 2012 album Decade, the group’s music had turned fully electronic and house-oriented, just as Martin-McCormick began issuing comparable work as Ital on Not Not Fun and Planet Mu. Earthen Sea placed the Mirage EP on Martin-McCormick’s Lovers Rock imprint in 2014, though its techno leaned inward and restrained rather than club-directed. Following an abstract split LP with Insect Factory, the full-length Ink appeared on Lovers Rock in 2015. The digital EP The Sun Will Rise came out via Nicolas Jaar’s Other People in 2016. After moving to Brooklyn, Long released the odds-and-ends collection A Serious Thing and his Kranky debut An Act of Love in 2017.
Kranky followed two years later with the third album Grass and Trees, presenting a pared-back, skeletal form of dub techno. Ghost Poems arrived in 2022 on the same label, preserving Long’s spare approach to electronic dub while incorporating household samples recorded at home during the pandemic’s initial phase, with sounds such as clinking silverware, room ambience, and dropped plates integrated into his vaporous textures and deep drum patterns. Recollection surfaced in 2024, blending live acoustic instrumentation with downtempo loops to recast Earthen Sea as a “piano trio.”
Albums
Singles
