Born in Toronto,[3] Hartford grew up surrounded by a variety of musical influences, including New Orleans jazz, Beethoven, hip-hop, and hard rock.

[3] Hartford self-released a remix he had made of the Deadmau5 song "Aural Psynapse" in November 2014, which almost immediately gained attention and led to rumors being spread about the identity of the producer.

The name was chosen both because the ambiguity would allow him to cover a variety of sounds, and because of the influence that physical and emotional geographies, histories, and stories have on his writing.

[20][21][22] Collaborators on these EPs included Kristian Attard on the song "Batch", Charlie Thorpe on "Jagged", and Chelsea Jade on "Parallel Lines".

[25][26] After a brief hiatus, he released another single, "Ryat", in June ahead of the full Bloom EP,[27] a self-described collection of calm, fresh air and vocal collaborations.

[31] At the end of 2016, Hartford embarked on a seven show tour across Canada and the United States to promote the second installment of his Storyline mix series[7] and closed the year out by giving away the song "Thanks" for free to his SoundCloud followers as a way of expressing gratitude for his fans.

[38] Near the end of 2019, Hartford suffered an accident related to his foot that made activities like hiking, songwriting, and occasionally even sleep impossible for a time.

[42][45] Lavender God featured collaborations with Lambert, Maylyn, and Alisa Xayalith (of The Naked and Famous fame) and would go on to be nominated for the Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year.

[52][53] Mid-February 2022, the Attlas and mau5trap Twitter pages both announced that Hartford's third album, titled Carry it with You, would be released on March 11 and would be preceded by the single "Waterbug" on February 25.

[54] Songs from the album were meant to convey a broad range of emotions, from dread and hope, to failure and frustration, to brutal honesty with oneself.

[55][56][57] Hartford listed a number of influences that contributed to the songs on Carry it with You, including the bands Boards of Canada, Prince of Denmark, Modern Baseball, O'Flynn, Vessels, and the painter William Kurelek,[39] The album received praise for the emotional depth conveyed and the diversity of sounds.

[55][57] After featuring in a remix of Rolo Tomassi's song "Closer" in July,[58] Hartford announced that he would be releasing a collaboration with producer Mango (Alexey Golovanov) titled "Over the Water" on the label Monstercat.

The duo released their debut single "Factory Gates" in November 2022 under Netwerk Music Group[63][64] and followed it with "Nothing Permanent" in December the same year.

[65] The duo explained that this album was heavily inspired by Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Klara and the Sun as well as the relationships between people and AI that evolved during the pandemic.

After a relatively quiet year, Hartford took to social media in November 2024, explaining that the previous several months had been marked by life-altering trials including back and leg injuries that left him unable to run, heartbreak, and even near-death experiences.