Originally from Ruston, Louisiana, multi-instrumentalists Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss welcomed Robert Schneider and Jeff Mangum, then moved to Athens, Georgia, where the project took shape under the name Cranberry Life Cycle. After Mangum's departure to create Neutral Milk Hotel, the band continued with John Fernandes, under the name Synthetic Flying Machine, then The Olivia Tremor Control. In 1995, without Schneider but with Eric Harris, the band recorded the California Demise EP and the single "The Giant Day", the first steps towards experimental neo-psychedelia on the critically acclaimed album Dusk at Cubist Castle (1996). Two years later, with the arrival of keyboardist Pete Erchick, Explanation II: Instrumental Themes and Dream Sequences was produced, an ambient instrumental exercise followed by Black Folliage: Animation Music by The Olivia Tremor Control (1999), exploring new sonic territories with collages and other environmental noises. Although not officially separated, the group's productions became less frequent after the release of the compilation Singles and Beyond (2000). Hart and Doss concentrate on their new projects Circulatory System and The Sunshine Fix. In addition, the former's multiple sclerosis, detected in 2005, slows down the band's activity, which welcomes Derek Almstead in 2010. A single appeared , "The Game You Play Is in Your Head", before Bill Doss died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 30, 2012. Since then dormant, the project was reactivated with the return of Robert Schneider and the recording of two singles, "Garden of Light" and "The Same Place", released on the same day as the death of initiator Will Cullen Hart, on November 29, 2024, at the age of 53.
![Timewaster [single]](https://cdn-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/b3282d92147907bd066e3f0473bfe53c/120x120-000000-80-0-0.jpg)
![Advice from the Oceans [single]](https://cdn-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/9775cebd3fb40ae464b1ac11060ddfb9/120x120-000000-80-0-0.jpg)
![Garden of Light [single]](https://cdn-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/00edecc7f410df36ecc8dcc0f95e8673/120x120-000000-80-0-0.jpg)
![The Same Place [single]](https://cdn-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/a671b355bcb0e1df99c850aec8764cb3/120x120-000000-80-0-0.jpg)
