Interview by Shaun Hamilton

Chain D.L.K.: So what lead to the breakup of the Love Spirals Downwards project and the birth of Lovespirals? Was it the evolvement of the music or from other factors?

Anji: It’s just been a natural progression, really. The first song created by Ryan and I that came out on CD was a [drum and bass] remix of “Bittersweet” for Claire Voyant, which they [Metropolis Records] credited on the album as “Love Spirals Downwards.” That was in late 1999, early 2000, I forget exactly. By 1999 we had already recorded a few songs, so when Temporal was being assembled, we discussed including one or two of our songs with the older LSD stuff. 1999-2000 was a very transitional time. We weren’t totally sure where we were headed yet. Ryan was still very immersed in the DJ scene then, so the stuff we were working on was 10 minute dance tracks – pretty unsuitable as album material. It wasn’t really until 2001 that things clicked into place for us, as far as the album goes.

Chain D.L.K.:How did you two meet and start working on music together?

Anji: We met a few times at different places in LA. We first started talking at a little Projekt party, which both of our bands were invited to. Then we got to know each other more through a series of appearances he made on KUCI, for both my radio show and other DJs’ shows out there. One afternoon he had me come over to his studio and he showed me a few new songs he was working on. One of those became the instrumental, “Beatitude,” and the other eventually turned into “Love Survives”. The first song he had me do vocals on, though, was the club track, “Ecstatic”, which just has a little “oooh ahhh” sample. There were a lot of starts and stops when we first started working together; we were really plagued by computer problems and personal issues.

Chain D.L.K.: I understand Ryan has a DJ project on the side. Will we hear anything more of this, or is it more of a side thing?

Anji: Ryan hasn’t done much DJing in the last few years. He says now that being a DJ took up took much time and money. DJing is fun, but definitely a distraction from doing our own music.

Chain D.L.K.: Any plans to sing on the future works?

Anji: Who, Ryan? Nah, he’s content to leave it to just that one backing vocal he did for “Delta”. I sometimes try to get him to do backing vocals with me, but he says it takes too long for him to get his parts right.

Chain D.L.K.: What is your opinion on the state of the ethereal scene and it’s transcendence into clubs?

Anji: We aren’t really big club goers, but we did just go to Club Violaine recently for the Dewdrop Records tribute to Cocteau Twins CD release party, which I think was the biggest ethereal related event we’ve seen happen locally in recent times. There was a really wide mix of musical styles represented by the DJs, including some modern electronica music, which was cool. Don’t think there’s many other clubs like that going in Los Angeles.

Chain D.L.K.:: Have you or Ryan had jazz training, and what are your musical backgrounds?

Anji: No, neither of us has had any Jazz schooling. Our sax player, Doron, actually does have a degree in Jazz, though! Ryan’s been reading up on Jazz the last year or so. He used to joke that he’d become a Jazz guitarist after he played a year in the NBA, but now he’s already accomplished the former without getting much closer to the latter goal. Both Ryan and I had a few lessons when we were young, but we’re mostly self-taught. He’s been playing guitar for most of his life. I think listening to a wide range of good music, and studying it to find out what makes it work, has been our best training.

Chain D.L.K.:: All of Ryan’s work seems to revolve around the subject of love. What is your opinion on the state of love in today’s world?

Anji: I believe that love is the most important thing in the world. Certainly nothing great can be accomplished without love as a motivating factor. Everyone is searching for love, in one way or another, and many are finding unsatisfactory substitutes in our modern world. I don’t think we can ever feel truly whole until we surrender to love; not only love for another person, but for ourselves, and for the world around us, as well.

Excerpt from the full interview hosted at the ChainDLK site.