Daniel Frederick Hart is an American musician, composer and classically trained violinist. He has released music as a soloist and with his bands The Physics of Meaning and Dark Rooms. He has also toured and recorded with numerous bands, including

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

Other Lives Other Lives may refer to: * Other Lives (band), an American indie rock band ** ''Other Lives'' (album), their 2009 debut album * "Other Lives" (''True Detective''), an episode of the American television series ''True Detective'' * "Other Lives" ...

John Vanderslice John Warren Vanderslice (born May 22, 1967) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and recording engineer. He is the owner and founder of Tiny Telephone, an analog recording studio in San Francisco, California, San Francisco and O ...

Swans Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

The Rosebuds The Rosebuds were an American indie rock band from Raleigh, North Carolina, that recorded and performed from 2001 to 2014. (Not to be confused with the vocal group of the same name who recorded for George Goldner's Gee Records in the 1950s.) I ...

, Annuals, Glasser,

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the ...

, Pattern Is Movement, Mount Moriah,

The Polyphonic Spree The Polyphonic Spree is an American choral rock band from Dallas, Texas that was formed in 2000 by singer/songwriter Tim DeLaughter. The band's pop and rock songs are augmented by a large vocal choir, and instruments such as flute, trumpet, ...

and

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. In 2012, he wrote and recorded the score for David Lowery's film ''

Ain't Them Bodies Saints ''Ain't Them Bodies Saints'' is a 2013 American romantic crime drama film written and directed by David Lowery. The film stars Casey Affleck as Bob Muldoon, Rooney Mara as Ruth Guthrie, and Ben Foster as Patrick Wheeler. Bob (Affleck) and Rut ...

'', which premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in 2013. He wrote the scores for '' Pete's Dragon'' (2016), '' A Ghost Story'' (2017) and '' The Green Knight'' (2021). He lives in Los Angeles.

Early life

Hart was born in

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka, Kansas, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, Wichita ...

, where his parents worked as church musicians. He began playing the violin at age three. He graduated from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Meadows School of the Arts The Algur H. Meadows School of the Arts is the fine arts unit at Southern Methodist University, located in University Park, Texas, U.S. It is known for its programs in advertising, art, art history, arts administration, cinema, performing arts, jou ...

. After graduating college, he joined

AmeriCorps AmeriCorps ( ; officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in ...

and worked for a non-profit in New York City.

Career

Music

Hart moved to North Carolina in 2002 and, along with

David Karsten Daniels David Karsten Daniels is an American singer-songwriter with an affinity for "slow-creeping songs that, once at full power, are like nothing else". His recordings are typically combinations of many styles of music sitting underneath lyrics that e ...

, John Ribo, Perry Wright and Alex Lazara, founded the Bu Hanan record label. He formed the band The Physics of Meaning, releasing two studio albums, and toured extensively with several bands. He played violin with The Polyphonic Spree, including opening for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

in 2004. He was also a member of St. Vincent's band from 2007 through 2010, and contributing to the albums ''Marry Me'', ''Actor'', and '' Strange Mercy''. He released his first solo record, ''The Orientalist'', in 2011. In 2013, his new band, Dark Rooms, released their eponymous debut album. Hart also performed and recorded with the group Project Mastana, playing violin on their record ''Backroads to Bollywood''.

Composing

In 2009, director David Lowery asked Hart to write two compositions for his first feature film, ''St. Nick''. Since then, Hart has scored all of Lowery's films. In 2012, Hart scored Lowery's breakout feature ''

'', and Hart was subsequently named one of

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

's "25 Faces of Independent Film" in 2013. The score mixes chamber orchestral arrangements of strings and horns with more traditional folk instruments, such as the banjo, mandolin, knee slaps and

handclap A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

s. Following the release of ''Ain't Them Bodies Saints'', Hart scored half a dozen independent feature films over the next two years, including ''

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

'' (2014), '' Return to Sender'' (2015), ''Uncertain'' (2015), and '' Lost in the Sun'' (2015), '' Tumbledown'' (2015), and ''The Girlfriend Game'' (2015). Hart and Lowery next teamed up in 2016 for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's '' Pete's Dragon'', an adaptation of the 1977 musical film of the same name. Hart's score was written for a 94-piece orchestra and 32-person choir, by far the largest ensemble for which Hart has written music. Hart composed the score in three months, working "seven days a week, eleven to twelve hours a day" to finish it in time. Hart's next project was Season One of

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

's TV series ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

'', which debuted on September 23, 2016, and is based on the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name. In February 2017, Hart was nominated for

IFMCA The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) is a professional association for music journalism, online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about film score, original film and television music. History and purpose ...

's Breakthrough Composer of the Year, for his work on ''Pete's Dragon'' and television series ''The Exorcist''. On March 28, 2017, Daniel Hart released his composition for the soundtrack to the podcast " S-Town". The music is moody and brooding, and contemplative, a perfect foil to the subject matter of the podcast itself.

Discography

Studio albums

; The Physics of Meaning *''The Physics of Meaning'' (2005) *''Snake Charmer and Destiny at the Stroke of Midnight'' (2008) ;Solo *''The Orientalist'' (2011) ;Dark Rooms *''Dark Rooms'' (2013) * ''Distraction Sickness'' (2017)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Daniel Hart website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Daniel 1976 births American classical violinists American film score composers American indie pop musicians American indie rock musicians American male film score composers American male songwriters American television composers Living people American male classical violinists American male television composers Musicians from Texas Songwriters from Texas