Ryan Lum, who plays all the instruments in Love Spirals Downwards, a new group from the Californian label Projekt, answered some of our questions.

DM: Which groups have influenced you the most?

Ryan: I was influenced by many artists of different styles, including Harold Budd, Brian Eno, classical music of India, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Slowdive, the other Projekt groups, the Orb, the Primal Scream, the Grateful Dead, the Pink Floyd, the Beatles. I recently discovered the Ordo Equitum Solis, and I like them a lot. A long time ago (1986-88) I was very passionate about 4AD artists, especially the Cocteau, but then my subsequent evolution led me to more ‘psychedelic’ bands like the Popul Vuh of the early 70s. I still like Cocteaus, though: the first song of the new album is incredible!

DM: What does the name of the band mean?

Ryan:  We didn’t have any particular meaning in mind, we just liked the sound of the name.

DM: Is there a message you want to give with your music, or a project you want to implement?

Ryan:  We don’t want to give any particular message. At the limit, I would like people to be able to ‘escape’ inside our music, immersing themselves in it and having experiences about it.

DM: Do you think other forms of art can influence your music?

Ryan: I think so. Maybe because our music is in a certain sense visual’, I’m influenced, or if nothing else very impressed, by the visual arts.

DM: Who are your favorite artists?

Ryan:  I would say that my favorite paintings are those of Rothko. Some of his works make me burst into tears within a few seconds.

DM: Do you have preferences about the type of people who should listen to your music?

Ryan: I don’t care what kind of people listen to our stuff, it’s something that’s completely out of my reach. I’m fine with anyone who listens to them and appreciates them, no matter who it is.

DM: You had any reactions from fans after the release of “Idylls”?

Ryan: Yes, quite a few people wrote to us, and this surprised us. Unlike the fans who write to other Projekt groups, ours seem like nice and good people. Maybe I would like some ‘strange’ people to write to us too.

DM: The influence of India in your music is evident. Have you ever been there?

Ryan:  You’re right, there are Indian influences, at least in Idylls, because when I was working on the pieces included in the record I was listening to many records and going to many concerts of Indian music. The new pieces I’m working on, however, don’t have these influences. I’ve never been to India: I go to Indian restaurants and go to concerts, but that’s all: I haven’t made enough money to go there yet!

DM: There are some American underground groups. Which do you like?

Ryan: Honestly speaking, I think all the bands from Projekt are incredibly good, especially Lycia, Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Soul Whirling Somewhere. It’s really a nice thing that there is a label like Projekt.

DM: Why did you decide to write incomprehensible lyrics for your songs?

Ryan:  Suzanne (the singer, ed.) takes care of these things, but she’s not here now, so I’ll answer for her. The lyrics are sometimes partially understandable, especially in the new songs we are working on. Often, however, we invent a language for a song: we use English if we think it works better or French — or an invented language if it seems more suitable.

DM: Would it bother you if someone gave your songs a meaning that you hadn’t thought of?

Ryan:  No, not at all, in fact I would encourage people to do it. A friend recently transcribed what she thought were the lyrics of our new songs, and they were different from ours. But the interesting thing is that her texts were just different from ours, not better or worse, the way she had added her meaning to the lyrics was really intriguing. That’s why I think it’s so exciting to use lyrics like ours: there’s not a single meaning that everyone is expected to understand. I bet there are as many different meanings for our songs as there are people that they listen to them.

DM: What are your plans for the future?

Ryan:  As I mentioned to you prior, we are working on a second album, which we hope will be released in the spring of this year. I would say it will be a little different from the first one. I think our new songs are better than the old ones, so I can’t wait to finish this album.

DM: What are the features you like in the old sound of 4 AD? Are you trying to carry out some of them in your songs?

Ryan: Probably the surrealism and the ability to transport to another world that the first Cocteau or the Dead Can Dance albums had. That of being transported to other ‘places’ is a quality that I like in art: a certain kind of mysticism. I could say that these are the characteristics of the 4AD sound that we have in our music.

(translated from Italian)