The Flowers of Hell are a trans-Atlantic experimental orchestra made up of a revolving line-up of 16 or so independent musicians based in Toronto and London. Their largely instrumental sound builds bridges between classical music and post-rock, shoegaze, space rock and drone music, often resulting in their being described as an orchestral extension of the work of The Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3. Led by synesthete composer Greg Jarvis, much of their repertoire is an exploration of the timbre-to-shape synesthesia that causes Jarvis to involuntarily perceive all sounds as floating abstract visual forms. The group's music has been championed by Lou Reed, Kevin Shields, Pete 'Sonic Boom' Kember who mentored the group through the creation of their debut album, and numerous others. They have had positive coverage from media including Rolling Stone, NME, Pitchfork, and BBC Radio.
History
The Flowers of Hell moniker comes from an old blues concept of transformation whereby the misery and toil of the musician results in the pleasure of the listener. The name was first used by the group’s founder Greg Jarvis on tracks included on various UK newspaper and magazine covermount CDs in 2002 and 2003, of which just under two million units were distributed. Jarvis expanded the project into a London-based live act in 2005 with the founding six piece line upconsisting of himself as the principal guitarist, Guri Hummelsund on drums, Abi Fry on viola, Owen James on trumpet, Ruth Barlow as the accompanying guitarist, and Steve Head onHammond organ. In early 2008, following a move back to his native Toronto after a decade spent abroad in London and Eastern Europe, Jarvis debuted a North American branch of the group as an opening act for Spectrum. The Flowers of Hell have since operated on both continents simultaneously with Jarvis going back and forth for concerts and all members contributing to recordings. Throughout the band’s evolution, Jarvis has remained as its main composer and producer. Jarvis is a synaesthete and his compositions and productions are largely based upon his timbre-to-shape synaesthetic visions. Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomena where two senses are intermingled. With the timbre-to-shape variant, differing timbres give rise to a visual language of sound. Notable events in the group's history include a 2019 performance for an audience of synesthetes at the Moscow Conservatory, NASA's mission control staff declaring their fandom and synchronizing The Flowers of Hell song Sympathy For Vengeance with fresh Discovery shuttle footage, Lou Reed highly praising the group and starting his final radio show with three of their recordings,, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields inviting the group to open for one of the eight dates on their 2008 reunion tour, and closing the Intersection Festival of experimental classical music on Toronto's main square in 2011 and 2015. In 2010 Greg Jarvis made headlines after being detained in Sentani, West Papua by rebel soldiers from the Organisasi Papua Merdeka - Jarvis was mistaken for a spy and used a ukulele to prove he was a musician.
