Children of Laudanum profile picture

Children of Laudanum

About Me


Children of Laudanum is on a hiatus for the foreseeable future.
All art is quite useless...
Children of Laudanum is "a shadowy trip through an ethno-modern landscape," "an expansive sonic project that incorporates many worldly instruments and music styles to create a lush and hypnotic playground for the mind."
The tapestry brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Stephen Hargreaves; raised in England and Canada amongst a constant wash of literature, arts, and music. Extensive world travel from an early age and previous work with noise, soundscapes, electronica, & organic sounds laid an unorthodox but solid foundation for what would become Children of Laudanum. Furthermore performing along side of and taking erudition from musicians from Turkey, Iran, Ireland, Pakistan & the United Arab Emeritus, Stephen fell deep into the trance of ancient ‘world music’.
The 2004 debut LP Synesthesia links the ancient & modern and the east & west in elegance and eternal beauty. Sufi themes together with early 19th century literature guide the listener on "a spectacular musical cultural journey..." Synesthesia incorporates the eternal vocal sounds of Erin Armstrong and Marissa Nowlan together with the fiery violin of Frank Edgley, with Hargreaves performing on an array of instruments including oud, piano, cello, percussion, ney, and electronic manipulation. With a lack of formal music training Hargreaves, who is said to be a synaesthete, and such his approach to composition is "fresh and moves in exciting directions," earning himself much respect among contemporizes and fans worldwide alike.
stephen is also a part of the organic electronic project NOT_digital
visit the NOT_digital myspace here...

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 05/11/2005
Band Website: www.childrenoflaudanum.cjb.net
Band Members: Stephen Hargreaves: composer & multi-instrumentalist including: oud, piano, cello, percussion, ney, keyboards, et cetera.

with the help of...
Erin Armstrong: vocals
Marissa Nowlan: vocals
Frank Edgley: violin
Erik Ingalls: keyboards, etc.
Sally Zori: darbuka & other percussion

Influences: Classical Turkish music, Sufism, organic & ambient sound, Mercan Dede, Oscar Wilde, Dead Can Dance, Philip Glass, Johannes Brahms, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Samuel Barber, Peter Gabriel's Passion & Sources, Loreena McKennitt's Book of Secrets, Peter Murphy's Dust, Whirling Dervishes, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Istanbul, various world music & laudanum...
Sounds Like: "It's like being on a mind-trip through an ancient Middle Eastern culture full of glory, fervidness, mysticism, and wistfulness. …excellent album!”
Radio Inferno (Austria)
"...an expansive sonic project that incorporated many worldly instruments and music styles to create a lush and hypnotic playground for the mind."
The Windsor Scene
"...a shadowy trip through an ethnomodern landscape."
The Windsor Star
“...an ethnic fusion of traditional and classical sounds. You cannot resist getting lost in Synesthesia.”
The Lance
"Transformative! Synesthesia is a spectacular musical cultural journey..."
Mind Over Acid 91.5FM Detroit
"Bringing world music to a beautiful new world..."
ROOTS
Others have said: Dead Can Dance, Vas, Peter Gabriel, Loreena McKennitt, Hans Zimmer, etc.
...though I'd like you to tell me what you think!
Record Label: Fossil Dungeon
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

'dans etmek' new song up... dance with me into the stars...

I'm cold. I'm working on music for a bellydancer friend of mine at the moment and wishing it were spring. So I thought...To all of you also wishing for spring I've added 'Dans Etmek' ('dance for the ...
Posted by on Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:21:00 GMT

I've posted a new piece (two actually) & two new photos

hello... I've posted two tracks off of the Synesthesia LP as one track on myspace.com.  The two pieces do best with the accompaniment of each other, at least I feel they do.  So allthou...
Posted by on Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:09:00 GMT