Jon Thompson grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, in a small industrial town where the air smelled permanently of oil refinery smokestacks. His earliest musical education came from staying up late watching MTV and USA Network's Night Flight — the late-night cable show that broadcast music videos, animation, and short films until 3am — alongside his older brother and his cousin, Dax Pierson. Those nights introduced him to The Art of Noise, Kraftwerk, and Falco, and planted the seeds of an obsession that never really let go.

Dax Pierson went on to become a musician and producer of considerable note — co-founding the avant-garde hip-hop group Subtle and the acclaimed Anticon collaboration 13 & God, and releasing two celebrated solo albums before his passing in December 2024. Thompson credits those early shared hours in front of a television screen as foundational.

Thompson's tastes deepened over the years into the layered orchestration of The Cure, the fuzzy shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Ride, and the hazy chime of Lush and The Cocteau Twins. The project name came later — from a placard beneath a Yves Klein painting at the Tate Modern in London: "I adopt the cause of the colour oppressed by the line." Thompson relocated to London shortly after, spending three years playing guitar in the shoegaze band Sleepless and releasing the debut Oppressed by the Line EP, The Cause of the Colour, on Club AC30 in 2006 — sharing stages with The Telescopes, Emma Anderson's Sing Sing, Hood, and Epic 45.

Since returning to Houston, Thompson has released six albums of cinematic ambient electronics under the Oppressed by the Line name, each shaped by a specific place or moment in time. The seventh, The Carrington Event, arrives in 2026.