Classically trained as a Cellist, Daniel Staniforth composes in a variety of genres from classical, impressionist, atonal, ambient, to ethereal - whether using real orchestral
instruments or synthesizers. From traditional to experimental, dark to light and airy - his
sophistication and colour may charm the discerning listener. Although his formal
academic training is mostly in Literature, Staniforth studied Cello, Piano, Music Theory, and
Composition from an early age, passing various exams at the Royal Academy of Music.
New Videos
Dreams of Albion
Thaws of Amber
Father to Fatheris a series of impressionistic orchestral pieces written and performed by
Staniforth in homage to his father, Ken Staniforth, a classical music aficionado.
The pieces explore the English landscape of Staniforth's youth and his experiences as an
immigrant in America. The CD features the voices of brother, Jonathan Staniforth;
Brother-in-law, Julian Lukins; and great-grandmother-in-law, the late Lucia Zarlinga
(recorded in her 105th year).
Sections of the CD were recently used by theatre producer, Gouri Nilakantan Mehta,
for plays at the National Media Centre in Nathupur, India.
Pieces: Adrift, Colours of Aldeburg Beach, Dreams of Albion, Gemisphere, Dean Church Graveyard Dances, Last Memories of Caraville (Dialogue for Centenary Woman,Antique Piano, & Orchestra), Blackbird (Variations on a Yeovil Folksong), Sunkenness(A Round for Dub-choir & Orchestra), Lost Language of the Lakes, Sylvan Forest Light, Little Victories of Spring, Flight of the Emigre, Song for Hana.
"It is a cacaphony of countryside. it feels like a stream, then a hillside of animals. then there are birds. and clouds. and a small forest path.
it is heard in the music, and it is seen in the mind. It is almost peaceful. however there are constant surprises, and distractions."
"Artistry. very impressive! brings back nice memories and images... herne the hunter, chalk horses,the round table, knights and castles,
and always the great forest. bravo!"
"Epic, filmic, a very ambitious piece. so much going on... sophisticated yet unpretentious, an army of darkness in a faded oak leaf."
"Full of atmosphere and beauty."
"I love all the different moods - frightened, wondrous, daring."
"Brooding with lots of interesting chords and progressions. I like the tonal mixed with the atonal."
"This is simply beautiful. . .Lovely counter point! With unexpected twists."
"Lovely timbres and coloristic build here. Ethereal and beautiful harmonies abounding."
"Nicely lyrical and lachrymal. I like how he deals with musical spaces, and let them be s p a c e."
"Great arrangement, wonderful choice of instruments and soundcolors."
"Austere at times, staggeringly huge at others."
"I'm very fond of imagery and atmosphere in music, and this has it in spades."
"A unique atmosphere and wash of amorphous colors."
"Lush and full of space to let each instrument voicing shine through..."
Check out Daniel's profile at
with REBSIE FAIRHOLM & ALCHYMICAL MUSE (2009)
Rebsie Fairholm is an English singer who felt the calling to traditional music but found the lure
of 60s psychedelic rock too great an influence to resist, ending up with a darkly evocative
cornfield-edge psych-folk. Inspired by the land and the lingering spirits of the ancestors who
tilled it, she has a sweet and haunting voice which touches the listener on a deep level.
Daniel and Rebsie can be heard together on Rebsie's new CD, Seven Star Green. Their work together on that album led to the formation of the duo, Alchymical Muse.
Alchymical Muse is a voice and cello centred duo comprising Daniel Staniforth
(vocals, cello, classical and electric guitars) and Rebsie Fairholm (vocals, clarsach harp, 12-string guitar).
Varied and innovative, and kaleidoscopic in its vision, the Alchymical sound combines spine-tingling
vocal harmonies with haunting cello, dark tumbling guitars and a diversity of strings and chimes.
Deep and contemplative songs bring out the unique and special synergy between their voices,
fusing together elements of wordless lyrics, choral chants, Gaelic lament and flourishes
of poetry and literature.
In 2007, Staniforth composed a series of ambient meditation pieces for his sister-in-law,
Barbie Flowers-Radell, as an encouragement in her fight against Lung Cancer.
Sadly, the courageous battle ended with Barbie's passing on February 29, 2008.
This music was a gift of love and is therefore not for sale - but if you would like share
the following pieces in memorium of this beautiful woman, please click on the links above.
WATCHERS OF THE VALCORON TRILOGY (with OMNICELL) (Brian Hoffman: drums, synthesizers - Daniel Staniforth: cello, kalimba, recorder, organ, synthesizers)
From the ice…and the brooding hazel drawn empire.. the night is as sharp as a vampire hanging from a murky dream...
Only the Red moon is present... all else is dark, alone, and the wind... so much wind... In every direction... It is self.... it is no-one....
The Watchers are immersed in a stunning pathology of ambient sulfate...through cello and variant other wavesound pulse mixing...
burning its curious way to the top of the ice-volcanic biosphere… enchanted... Vibrations going everywhere.... Vibrations going now-where...
Gray and army tank green, maxilating… Pixel-phasing, and orange like orangatang-a- rearranging!! A premium Mercury.., a taste, a feel of the after… altered presence of folding space and translucent caricature... The phase is tapestry... the phase is Now...
...and so, fire-blind in a blitzkrieg of colour and repentance, the two anchorites emerge upon the shadowless periphery...
gazing where eyes risk the permanent singe of altered truth and spiritual malfeasance... upon the red basilica of a cuckold sky,
where old lacerations dance in their loose chains.... upon the sinews of hydrogen clouds, sifting through indeterminable ethers,
slicing the composite like an organic rapier... claiming the watcher's bruised eye like an old debt.
It is there in the ruby folds and rouge iridescence... just beyond the last corpuscular recognition of the senses...
you can find our sonic nether-landscape... an omnicellular world with its bloodied luna trickery...
"Ice Walk"
Turned to liquid am I... turned to ice!!
Only on a pleading peaceful frozen day between the blue green hemispheres... two colliding ridged biospheres…
the dissected retrograde H2O resurrection… the elimination of bending identity. The creep of the black stiff mud flow…
the seemingly seeping serpentine ladder-walk of a dangerous deranged binosaur… with a new consciousness for ray-gun semantics....
The machines... they’re everywhere.... The machines are no- where... yet in every direction… Ice... no matter what I do.. where I walk ..ICE!
I can never escape the manipulation of escaping self.... even under the D sized bra filled drunk-consumption with lament... ICe.. Ice... Ice....
Convergence... Turn to letter H... backwards to letter 9... Forward to 456+98th..9986231
The Watchers pull off another extra ordinary tight rope journey with Cello and other mixing magica...
We throw a little of this at them.. a little of that... !! And what do we get back....? A stunning crystal perspective of the realism of place,
form, and quality few have ever seen, or will ever be able to match..
The watchers see their segments for the first time in a new and fascinating life.... they’re even interested in listening to themselves again…
they can hear new sounds, new voices they didn't know existed… And to their fascination and stunning shock... they realize they created them,
and have never heard them before... It is the Valcoran artistic elv'n realm that is bringing them to the surface…to life… where all are shocked...
all are stunned... What a journey....
... such liquefaction of the void between tundral moons... where shadows clamor with vortex envy.... the shudders of spectral ice chasms,
fractal in their hesitant ambience...
"Telepathy"
As Born in me, thus night, humble to be bare… lacking for only shoes.. Skies sing… yet who are we to know such things…? Colors and lights... and haunted dreams...
The fire Ball... The fire Ball... What doeth it mean? We are yet to see, the beginning… we are yet to dream the end...
where the end is the beginning… and the beginning is the end...
I know they’re there... I know they’re there... Blue green red white... Blue green red white… all is night with Blue Green Red and white... Dust covers the beginning... and my love... Dust discovers the intriguing... and our Russian Sub.... Yet the Torpedo is our friend… he has always been.
...tendrilized telepathonics... the Watchers have established contact...but the language is bloodless and sardonic.... the Valcori await us....
Dream nth (or Dream to the nth) was a musical collaboration between Daniel Staniforth
(Vocals/Guitar/Cello) and Jude D’Silva (Bass/Drums), recorded near Oxford, OH.
Twelve Songs were written and recorded by both of thembetween 2002 and 2005.
Four songs from these sessions, along with eight songs that were remade by Daniel in 2008,
now comprise the album called "Moonbather's Glory."
Jealousy Screams (formerly U.Z.I.) was a San Diego area band from 1985-89.
The main components were song-writing duo, Daniel Kennedy (vocals/guitar/synth) and
Daniel Staniforth (vocals/guitar/synth/cello), sometimes joined by other musicians such as
Mick Macres (drums), Bob Haskins (guitar), and others.
Check out Daniel's profile at 
