The Olivia Tremor Control - The One

Biography

The Olivia Tremor Control is an American psychedelic rock band that was prominent in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was, along with The Apples in stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, one of the three original projects of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. The band was founded by the remnants of the group Synthetic Flying Machine (Jeff Mangum, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart) in 1994. The OTC released a few singles before their debut double-LP Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle, the first of their two sprawling, cinematic albums. Dusk at Cubist Castle was released alongside an ambient instrumental album Explanation II: Instrumental Themes and Dream Sequences which, despite being of a different length to Cubist Castle, is claimed to produce quadraphonic sound when played at the same time. Between the release of Cubist Castle and their next album, the OTC released two experimental albums under the moniker The Black Swan Network (The Late Music & The Olivia Tremor Control vs The Black Swan Network, which was named without the band’s consent – they prefer Tour or Color Squares). The OTC released their second album, Black Foliage: Animation Music, Volume 1, in 1999, before going on hiatus in 2000 so its members could focus on their own projects – Will Cullen Hart formed the Circulatory System while Bill Doss became a Sunshine Fix. Drummer Eric Harris released an extremely experimental album as The Frosted Ambassador and keyboardist Pete Erchick released three under the moniker Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t.

On 31 July 2012 Bill Doss passed away, two years after the announcement of the Olivia Tremor Control’s third album, The Same Place. The future of the album has been in jeopardy since then, but the Apples in stereo’s Robert Schneider confirmed in 2017 he had stepped in to assist the remaining members of the OTC with the completion of the album.