PREMIERE | W. Cullen Hart & Andrew Rieger, 'Leap Through Poisoned Air'
Iconic Elephant 6 alum, from left: Will Cullen Hart and Andrew Rieger randomly reunited at an Arkansas convenient store during the 2019 holidays; press photo courtesy of the artists.
As the musical world continues to process the loss of Elephant 6 co-founder Will Cullen Hart who passed in November of 2024, a new never-heard before succinct collection of gems from the artist has been uncovered. More than just a post-humous epilogue from a visionary who helped shaped the psychedelic frontiers of the twenty-first century; a quaint quartet of songs assembled with the utmost concision and precision glow and hum like charmed paeans that point toward new dimensions of beauty and splendor (that manage to transcend the trappings of conventional time itself).
From a collaboration dating 25 years back, we present the debut of Will Cullen Hart and Andrew Rieger’s never heard before EP Leap Through Poisoned Air. The late Hart of Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System and Rieger from Elf Power were once roommates a few decades back where their combined forces contain a blueprint for styles and sounds that reverberate and resonate in both the mainstream and underground scenes spanning from the late 1990s to this very day. From every blogosphere darling of the 2010s to the psychotropic sailors of the industry’s mainstages; the two influential titans present understated pop worlds that both sound like every DIY troubadour that would arrive thereafter — and yet no one at all except for the collective works of Will and Andrew respectively.
Leap Through Poisoned Air takes the listener on a magic lysergic ride through infinite atmospheres. "Treasures in the Magic Hole" trips its way down the subterranean corridors and burrowed quarters of a mad hare. The duo speed rhythmic riffs with a fuzzed-up fury, journeying to a portal that promises a place that holds multitudes. Hart and Rieger make music that rocks with a turbulent tape hiss like a psych performance taking place at rough and tumble punk dive. The title track moves like a timeless pastoral that slowly sludges and smolders like a plastic portable Sanyo cassette player from the 90s left out a little too long in the southern sun. “Poisoned Air” gracefully wafts into the stratosphere like a dubious vapor with audio emanations that resound with the aura of a lost home recorded relic.
"Three Seeds" is the sound of two wandering musical warriors living along the fringes of consciousness setting forth on a courageous vision quest into the auspices of eternity that lie beyond the golden arched gates that guard the sovereign frontiers of the material universe. Will and Andrew create the feeling of journeying on fantastic voyages into quixotic kingdoms of illustrious illusions conjured up and created through the effectively economic and humble means in personal dwelling spaces.
The electric DIY trad psych sentimentalities round out the EP on the closing hymn "The Breathing Universe" that conjures up visions of a living, breathing, being, that is the world (or at least some adjacent and/or alternate planet). The closing meditation imagines a plane of existence of becoming one with the earth, dispelling the ills that have plagued humanity since the beginning of time with hazy mantras that summon the dawning of a new age. The combined talents of Hart and Rieger present a gateway to a new creative consciousness that moves the mind and senses to witness new wondrous manifestations of realities both familiar, foreign, and all around fascinating. This four song EP delivers kernels of light that are a testament to the prolific works of the late W. Cullen Hart in hand with Andrew Rieger that moves with an unrelenting lo-fi strength to make the mountains levitate high above the valleys of their foundations.
Andrew Rieger provided the following track by track break down accompaniment to Leap Through Poisoned Air:
"Treasures in the Magic Hole"
Will liked a lot of punk and hardcore music, and this song shows that influence, with a heavier and faster sound than he usually displayed in Olivia Tremor Control or Circulatory System. I remember listening to bands like Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Bad Brains and the Fall with Will around this time.
"Through Poisoned Air"
The way that we recorded these songs was that Will recorded all the music and then gave the songs to me to add vocals/lyrics. A few times during this song Will employs a great production technique in which the whole mix is basically destroyed by a bizarre noise that briefly erupts before the song goes back to it's regular timing and feel. It is a wonderfully jarring effect, but it wasn't the easiest to sing in time to, but I was able to make it work!
Cover art for Leap Through Poisoned Air.
"Three Seeds"
Elf Power rerecorded a version of this for the 2001 album Creatures. I like the woozy, off kilter feel of this version, mainly facilitated with Will's fast shifting of the volume knob on the bass and drum tracks. You can also hear a car drive by halfway through the song, which I love.
"The Breathing Universe"
Will recorded a different version of this with Circulatory System in 2009 for the album Signal Morning. Our earlier version features Will and I trading off singing lines, and some different lyrics that I wrote for my part that weren't included on the later Circulatory System version.
Will Cullen Hart and Andrew Rieger’s Leap Through Poisoned Air arrives May 30 via Orange Twin Records.