Jordan Sand weaves voice into the organ-like resonances of bowed double bass. Folk string playing and tinges of Nordic jazz collide with extended techniques and the experimental, reckless spirit of the underground. At once raw and beautiful, gritty and delicate, her performances have been described as “impressive” (New York Times) and “Joni Mitchell meets Ligeti” (Omaha Under the Radar). Spanning off-kilter melodicism, polyphony, drone and noise, her writing and improvising often deal with a form of suspended consciousness, illumination or ego death, fusing wordless voice into the acoustic glow of her instrument.
Based in New York City for many years, Sand honed her chops as an instrumentalist, performer and session musician, working full time in the city’s chaotic web of music scenes. Performance credits include Carnegie Hall, Saturday Night Live, the Apollo Theater, and NPR’s Tiny Desk, and she’s toured extensively as a freelancer, with a range spanning folk, free jazz, classical, pop, new music, contemporary opera, and experimental formations of all shapes and sizes.
Since 2012, Sand has played solo at experimental and underground venues in Europe and North America, drawing from an evolving catalogue of her original music for voice and bass. On stage, Sand often populates the architecture of song with radical sound palettes: layers of string noise, crooked melodies, siren-like singing, and at times harrowing counterpoint between voice and the bowed textures of her instrument.
Since 2020, her work as a sound designer and composer has also come to the fore in collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, researchers, and poets. Her music has been supported by the Norwegian Arts Council, the Harriet Hale Woolley Foundation, Trondheim Kommune, and Norsk Komponist Foreningen.
Originally from the U.S., Sand has lived in four countries, driven twice cross-continent in July, and plays on a Hungarian double bass of otherwise unknown origin. She holds a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and is currently based in Trondheim, Norway, planning a record release for autumn 2026.
