Official Love Spirals Downwards ‘Flux‘ press release from Projekt Records:
As the name of their newest album implies, Love Spirals Downwards has continued their evolution with each new release. Comprised of Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry, the band was among the first generation of musicians to grow up with home recording studios. As technology became more sophisticated, so did their art. Now Lum and Perry use a full range of technical advances, including computers and digital audio recording. Their embrace of technology helped lead to their current dance/electronica base.
The mood of Love Spirals Downwards’ music, for all its aural and technological spectacle, is contemplative, drawing upon such eclectic inspirations as classical philosophy, Buddhism, mysticism, Spanish ode, and the distinctly American free verse of Jack Kerouac. This range of sources suggests something of the scope and spiritual embrace of their art.
Degreed in Philosophy and Psychology respectively, Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry’s musical collaboration as Love Spirals Downwards is both intrinsically thought-provoking and therapeutically relaxing. It is music which takes listeners beyond conditioned preconceptions, flowing into a space that is invitingly warm and boundless.
Love Spirals Downwards emerged in the early 1990’s as one of the forerunners of a style of ethereal, blissful pop termed “shoegazer” by the music press. The duo’s 1992 debut release, Idylls, introduced listeners to a unique, sumptuous sound of layered, interwoven guitar textures and warm, lilting female vocals. Creating a style that was as much about mood as melody, Love Spirals Downwards’ quickly gained a loyal stronghold of fans eager to embark on this fervent excursion. The group’s second album, Ardor, released in 1994, gave further witness to their skill at sonically portraying romantic, dreamlike states of consciousness. Ardor showed a sharpened, more developed style of electronically treated guitar with an emphasis on voice as an instrument to create atmosphere. Love Spirals Downwards’ 1996 release, Ever, proved to be their most musically diverse to date. Ever showcased a wide ranging mix of folky acoustic and electronic ambient grooves, prompting one reviewer to write:
“Sailing on a gossamer sheen, swaying like a leaf lightly transversing the airwaves, Love Spirals Downwards unleashes achingly sweet melodies . . . tucked in a bed of soft ambient atmospherics and bittersweet acoustic strumming . . a delicate, foreboding allure, like mist at the dawn’s break.” – Bikini
Inspired by the ambient drum & bass style of LTJ Bukem, Spring Heel Jack and PFM, band founder Ryan Lum developed new material that combines the duo’s trademark heavenly vocals and ether-bliss guitars with a breakbeat rhythmic foundation. The result is Flux, Love Spirals Downwards’ most advanced passage yet.
Press Excerpts:
An achingly beautiful, enchanting maelstrom of emotion that fuses honey-dripped vocals, delicate guitars and electronie backdrops of sedate, swirling synthesizers – CMJ
Important components to their sound are Perry’s beautiful dreamy vocals, Lum’s delicate, sometimes cryptic acoustic six-string melodies, and their integration of swirling keyboards and subtle effects – ACOUSTIC GUITAR
LSD shine with the sort of music that once made the Twins so exciting – ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Atmospheric music with layered angelie vocals and shimmery guitars – HUH
(Love Spirals Downwards) swims on waves of guitars and airy, otherworldly vocals. And you’re meant to feel the lyrics, not understand them.” – RAYGUN
But was it really just a CD that LSD bestowed upon me, or an ethereal boarding pass? Hmmm I wonder as my head sprouts wings. – B-SIDE
Official ‘Flux’ promotional sticker postcard from 1-800-Postcards:
Love Spirals Downwards: flux
flux effectively blurs the boundaries between electronica and pop music. Contemporary “breakbeat” rhythms are fused with melodic, catchy pop songs in this brilliant foray into ambient drum & bass. More organic and human than most electronica albums, flux continues the LSD tradition of creating music that is sensually soothing and sonically dazzling. Here is what Scott Becker of Option magazine wrote: “A great, contemporary record. flux sounds like a more genuine version of what Mono was aiming for: a pop-electronic fusion with a gentle jungle undertow. i’s one of the best things l’ve heard in months, and you’d be wise to get your hands on a copy quick.”
You can hear music from flux at: http://www.projekt.com/bands/lsd/lsdaudio.html
