The Sandman’s Orchestra
THE SANDMAN’S ORCHESTRA is a duo made up of Pierre Laplace, a singer/songwriter from Lille, France, and his 17-year-old niece, Léonie Gabriel.
The story of the duo started in May 2010 when, after a family lunch, 15-year-old Léonie picked up a guitar and started singing a few covers. Everybody was astounded by the beauty of her voice, and her uncle Pierre Laplace immediately proposed that they work on some songs together.
Pierre was the singer in cult French band Vera Clouzot, who from 1994 to 2004 released 4 albums, played numerous concerts including support slots with Jeff Buckley and Smog, and appeared on the American Music Club tribute album « Come On Beautfiul » alongside Lambchop, Calexico and Matt Ward.
Before finding out that his niece had a voice beyond her years, Pierre had been setting up a home-studio and learning a number of new instruments. The timing was right to start a new musical journey.
Since they started working together the duo have developed a warm, atmospheric folk sound with touches of minimal dark jazz and electronica. The combination of male and female vocals and the blend of acoustic instruments (guitar, banjo, wurlitzer, piano, cello, drums) define the duo’s sound.
The Sandman’s Orchestra’s influences range from Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Mark Kozelek, Beth Gibbons, to Cat Power, Bill Callahan and Mark Eitzel.
The duo released their 1st album « Silver Linings » in June 2011 ; « Nocturne », their new 10-track LP will be released worldwide (CD and download) on March 25th 2013 through Bandcamp, CD Baby, Itunes and Amazon.
You can find a review on The Sandman’s Orchestra’s album ‘Nocturne’ here
You can visit their Facebook page here
