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Will Cullen Hart

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Will Cullen Hart
Hart in 2005
Born(1971-06-14)June 14, 1971
Ruston, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 29, 2024(2024-11-29) (aged 53)
Athens, Georgia, U.S.
EducationRuston High School
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Years active1991–2024
Musical career
Genres
Formerly of

William Cullen Hart (June 14, 1971 – November 29, 2024) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and visual artist.[1] He was a co-founder of the Elephant 6 Recording Company, as well as the rock band the Olivia Tremor Control. Following that band's breakup, Hart and several other former members regrouped to create Circulatory System. Hart's music was characterized by its blend of indie rock, Beatlesque psychedelic pop and musique concrète.

Recording career

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Early years

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Will Cullen Hart was born on June 14, 1971 in Ruston, Louisiana.[2] His parents, both interior designers, divorced and moved around the country, leading Hart to spend parts of his childhood in Alabama, Colorado, and Texas before returning to Ruston in ninth grade.[3] Among his friends there were future Elephant 6 collaborators Bill Doss, Jeff Mangum and Robert Schneider. The teenagers shared a passion and interest in home recording, influenced by John Cage, punk rock, krautrock, and 1960s psychedelic bands like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Zombies.[4] Some of his earliest musical projects were his solo recording moniker The Always Red Society, which released its sole tape Giant Chocolate Think Tank Blues in 1993 and reissued 2014, and Cranberry Lifecycle with Mangum, a "little 4-track pop thing," which were spoken of very highly by Schneider and remained highly sought after by fans untill finally leaked in 2023.[5] Mangum, Doss, and Hart then formed the group Synthetic Flying Machine, which evolved to become The Olivia Tremor Control.

The Olivia Tremor Control

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The Olivia Tremor Control's first release was the extended play (EP) California Demise in 1994, which presented many of the band's signature elements, like, for example, complex vocal harmonization. After the EP, the band briefly disbanded, with Hart moving to Denver, Colorado, before returning to Athens to reunite with Doss and record the band's debut album, Music from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle at Pet Sounds studio, with Robert Schneider as producer. His artistic difference to Doss became evident during recording for the album, with Doss leaning towards pop music and Hart writing more experimental material. In line with his experimental leanings, Hart was influenced by the 1969 White Noise album An Electric Storm which led to the splicing of his bandmates' songs with experimental electronic pieces in 1999's Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One.[6] The album was as ambitious of an undertaking as Dusk, and was met to positive reviews, with Pitchfork's Paul Thompson describing it as "among the most satisfying psychedelic albums of any decade", going on to compare it to the Buddhist concept of Bardo.[7]

Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control reunion and death

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After the release of Black Foliage, tensions grew between Doss and Hart. According to Doss, Hart wanted to take a hiatus from music, and was suffering from early symptoms of then-undiagnosed multiple sclerosis. The two had a falling out, and the Olivia Tremor Control broke up in 2000, releasing both an early singles compilation, Singles and Beyond, and a John Peel session before moving off to other projects. On the bands final tour, Hart would meet 15-yo E6 fan and future E6 cohort and collaborator Nesey Gallons, with whom he discussed Frank Zappa and musique concrète, and forged a friendship with that would last until his death, as well as introducing them to Julian Koster. Doss would reactivate his solo recording project The Sunshine Fix, and Hart formed his next project: Circulatory System with some ex-members of the Olivia Tremor Control, which released their self-titled debut album in 2001 on Cloud Recordings. A companion album of ambient noise and sound coloages known as Inside Views was released as well, in a similar vein to Cubist Castle companion album Explanation II years prior. Hart also released two musique concrète albums under his own name that year, Circuits and Silver.

Around 2005, Hart's multiple sclerosis symptoms worsened to the point that he had to be admitted to a hospital. This prompted Doss to start talking to him again, which led to the Olivia Tremor Control's gradual reunification process, which included several shows in 2005 and playing on the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tours in 2008 and 2011.[8] The band started working on a new album (while also continuing work on Circulatory System), the as-of-2025 unreleased The Same Place, and released two new singles, although the recording process was slowed after Doss' death due to an aneurysm at the age of 43 in 2012. Hart, and the remaining members, decided to continue working on the album in his memory, with Hart saying in 2019 it would be the band's final album: "We have three sides worth of songs done, though they're not sequenced properly yet to run three sides."[6]

In 2008, when preparing for the E6 Holiday Surprise Tour, the now 24-yo Music Tape Nesey Gallons began to frequently collaborate with Hart, editing & sequencing the seminal second Circulatory System album Signal Morning, released in 2009 on Cloud Recordings.[9] Gallons would eventually join Circulatory System after being expelled from The Music Tapes by Koster, playing Hart's rhythm parts as his progressing MS hindered his guitar playing ability, before leaving the group in 2011. 2009 also saw the release of Side 3, an album of alternative mixes and b-sides from Signal Morning, this time sequenced by Olivia and Circulatory System drummer Derek Almstead. In 2010, Hart & Gallons also released The Red Button, a collaborative album of guitar improvisations and sound collages, playing a single show under the name.

In 2014, Circulatory System released their third album, double LP Mosaics Within Mosaics, also on Cloud. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Hart and Gallons began collaborating again on the as-of-yet unreleased Circulatory System album Chapter Chirp: A Nonlinear Index.

On November 29, 2024, the Olivia Tremor Control released the singles "Garden of Light" and "The Same Place", the band's first new music in 13 years, as part of the soundtrack for the documentary The Elephant 6 Recording Co. (2022). Hours later, E6 co-founder Robert Schneider announced Hart had died that morning.[10] The status of the as-of-yet unreleased 3rd Olivia Tremor Control album The Same Place and 4th Circulatory System album Chapter Chirp are currently unclear.

Personal life and death

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Will Cullen Hart was also a visual artist. He created most, if not all, of the artwork for the Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System (among other Elephant 6 bands), as well as individual pieces.[citation needed] In a 2008 online interview, John Fernandes stated that Hart had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[11] Hart was married to his wife, Kelly Hart.[10]

Hart died from a heart attack on November 29, 2024, at the age of 53.[10][12]

Discography

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The Olivia Tremor Control

Circulatory System

Solo

  • Giant Chocolate Think Tank Blues (as The Always Red Society) (1993, reissued 2014)
  • Circuits (2001)
  • Silver (2001)
  • The Red Button w/ Nesey Gallons (2010)

References

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  1. ^ "Will Cullen Hart: The art of Will Cullen Hart". Luna Kafé e-zine. April 16, 2003. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  2. ^ The Apples in stereo [@applesinstereo] (June 14, 2013). "Happy Birthday to our pal Will Cullen Hart! May your day have "Warm Milk Chocolate"!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Clair, Adam (January 18, 2022). Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-306-92396-8. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  4. ^ Kot, Greg (January 30, 2014). "Jeff Mangum: Myth, mystery and enduring songs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  5. ^ https://archive.org/details/cranberry-mixdown
  6. ^ a b Quietus, The (March 26, 2019). "The Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage Revisited". The Quietus.
  7. ^ Thompson, Paul. "The Olivia Tremor Control: Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle / Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol. 1". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  8. ^ "Olivia Tremor Control Back Together and Recording │ Exclaim!". Olivia Tremor Control Back Together and Recording │ Exclaim!. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  9. ^ https://www.npr.org/2009/08/25/112060124/exclusive-first-listen-circulatory-system
  10. ^ a b c Jones, Abby (November 29, 2024). "Elephant 6 & Olivia Tremor Control co-founder Will Cullen Hart dead at 53". Stereogum. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
  11. ^ "Synthesis : Music : The Olivia Tremor Control : Circulatory System : John Fernandes : From the Olivia Tremor Control to Circulatory System and Back". www.synthesis.net. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  12. ^ "Will Cullen Hart, Elephant 6 Co-Founder, Dies at 53". Pitchfork. November 30, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
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