Jon Porras

Sonic explorer Jon Porras shapes atmospheric environments through guitars together with analog and digital synthesizers. He first rose to attention as half of Barn Owl, the revered psychedelic drone pair from the Bay Area whose output stretched from the mystical doom metal heard on 2008's From Our Mouths a Perpetual Light to the sludgy electronics of 2013's V. Working alone, Porras issued several arid, desert-like drone pieces under the Elm moniker toward the close of the 2000s, then adopted his own name beginning with 2011's Undercurrent. Although those early solo efforts centered on guitar, he turned to icy electronics for 2014's Light Divide and later pursued warmer electronic music such as 2018's Voices of the Air. The brief, minimalist 2022 album Arroyo consists of glacial piano-based pieces.

Porras had performed in metal groups prior to launching Barn Owl alongside Evan Caminiti in 2006. The pair first connected during a San Francisco State class and discovered a shared passion for meditative music. Barn Owl started issuing home-recorded improvisations on imprints including Not Not Fun and Root Strata, then joined Tom Carter of Charalambides on a 2008 split LP. Porras launched his Elm solo project the same year with Bxogonoas on Digitalis Limited and Woven into Light on Blackest Rainbow. Nemcatacoa appeared on Digitalis in 2009, while both Barn Owl members joined Digitalis co-founders Brad Rose and Eden Hemming for a one-off cassette under the name Hanging Thief. After Barn Owl's widely praised 2009 Root Strata album The Conjurer, the duo moved to Thrill Jockey and delivered Ancestral Star in 2010, also issuing The Headlands, a collaboration with the Infinite Strings Ensemble, on Important Records. In addition that year, Digitalis put out Black Summit by Gärden Söund, a project linking Barn Owl with Eternal Tapestry members Dewey Mahood and Jed Bindeman.

Under his own name, Porras released the guitar-centered drone album Undercurrent on Root Strata in 2011. Thrill Jockey soon followed with Barn Owl's Shadowland and Lost in the Glare. Porras's initial solo outing for the label arrived as 2012's Black Mesa, while Orilla Oscura came out on Immune the same year. He also issued the atmospheric techno EP Lxtvny under the Vallens alias. Both Barn Owl members took part in the Bay Area experimental supergroup Portraits, whose self-titled album Important Records released that year. After Barn Owl's 2013 full-length V, which folded in distorted drum machines and other abrasive electronic elements, Porras explored sub-bass and spacious sound design on his 2014 solo album Light Divide.

Following a three-year gap, he resurfaced in 2017 with Tokonoma, a Geographic North cassette built around the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. He extended this approach on 2018's Voices of the Air, his debut for Ba Da Bing Records. After time spent living in Europe and the arrival of his daughter, Porras rejoined Thrill Jockey for the piano-focused 2022 release Arroyo.