Colin Andrew Sheffield was born in El Paso in 1976 and lived in various cities in Texas prior to 2004, when he relocated to the Seattle area. He is a self-taught drummer, playing in various collaborative situations in his home state before eventually making a total transition to electronic music.
After initially working with exclusively digital sources, in recent years, Sheffield has refined his approach and now focuses on the strict re-contextualization of other commercially available recordings. His aim is to distill the essential qualities of these works and to then utilize that essence for new recordings. Usually only very brief sections of the original works are selected. These raw components are then contracted, expanded, layered, and/or otherwise processed until something new is forged. The resultant music is an atmospheric soundscape, gradually shifting and unfolding, offering subtle nuance and quiet restraint. His recordings often seem to have much in common with ambient electronic music, though are equally akin to "plunderphonic" audio collage.
In 1998 Sheffield founded the Elevator Bath recording label which has continually issued experimental works from a variety of artists from the United States and abroad.
Sheffield has released a number of solo recordings since 1998, including 2005's 'First Thus,' his debut long-player. His collaboration with turntablist James Eck Rippie is ongoing.
2009 will see the release of Sheffield's sophomore full-length solo release, 'Signatures,' via the Invisible Birds label.
