Will Cullen Hart, a founding member of the Athens, Georgia, indie-rock collective Elephant 6, died on Friday, November 29, of a coronary heart assault, in response to an announcement on the Elephant 6 web site. One of many musician’s Elephant 6 co-founders, Robert Schneider, shared that Hart died “all of the sudden, peacefully, and in a really pleased temper across the launch of the 2 new OTC songs”—the not too long ago launched Olivia Tremor Management singles “The Identical Place” and “Backyard of Gentle.” Will Cullen Hart was 53 years outdated.
Born in Athens, in 1971, Hart grew up in Ruston, Louisiana, alongside Schneider, Invoice Doss, and Jeff Mangum. As youngsters, the 4 put out residence recordings beneath the Elephant 6 banner, and, after finishing highschool, Doss, Hart, and Mangum moved to Athens, the place they fashioned the Olivia Tremor Management. Schneider ended up in Denver, Colorado, the place he based the Elephant 6 Recording Firm label to place out music created by his band Apples in Stereo. Hart, a visible artist, created a lot of the paintings for his personal band and others related to the collective.
The Olivia Tremor Management launched their first correct album, Music From the Unrealized Movie Script: Nightfall at Cubist Fort, in 1996, the yr after Mangum’s departure from the group. Extra music adopted earlier than the group disbanded in 2000. The following yr, Hart fashioned Circulatory System and launched the brand new band’s debut album. Each of his bands remained dormant till 2009 when the Olivia Tremor Management reunited and Circulatory System shared their second album, Sign Morning. The Olivia Tremor Management’s resurgence was slowed, nevertheless, by Invoice Doss’ dying in 2012.
Hart’s final album with Circulatory System, Mosaics Inside Mosaics, got here out in 2014. That very same yr, an Elephant 6 documentary was introduced, and it might finally see a large launch, in 2022, as A Future Historical past Of: The Elephant 6 Recording Co.
“Will was infinitely chatty, infinitely humorous, infinitely expressive, infinitely inventive,” Robert Schneider wrote in his eulogy for Hart, “He was infinitely liked by me, and by his bandmates and the Elephant 6 and Athens communities.”
