Category Archives: Band News

Band News, Review

Opus Zine Reviews Blisscent 1 CD

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Opus Zine has reviewed the Blisscent 1 compilation CD on their website. I was just going to post the bit about Lovespirals’ track, “He Calls Me,” however it only make sense in the context of the commentary preceding:

Alcian Blue’s track just feels a bit clumsy. The recording quality feels lacking, resulting in the whole song sounding rather flat. Unlike Skywave, where the lo-fi recording actually adds to the over noise assault, here it just makes what might otherwise be a decent song rather plodding.

However, there are no such complaints with Lovespirals’ “He Calls Me.” Formerly know as Love Spirals Downwards, Lovespirals features a new vocalist and a slightly different direction. Gone are drum and bliss textures of Flux, instead hinting back the group’s earlier releases, such as Ardor. Spanish-tinged acoustic guitar work and light drums provide the perfect setting for Anji’s beautiful vocals. Even more interestingly, the lyrics point at the song’s more spiritual origins: “His voice is like a song/I hear the melodies/So I learn them, write them down/So I can play them/Let them understand you are in everything we do/Show them your glory.”

— Jason Moore, Opus Zine
Interview

The Women of Mp3.com Interview

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Jianda Johnson interviewed Anji Bee for a feature article on the Women of Mp3.com Station.

JIANDA: How did you get into music, how long have you been making it, and when did you join Lovespirals?

ANJI: I’d say that I first got into music through my dad. One of my earliest memories is circling around the coffee table to “Here Comes the Sun,” when I was barely able to walk. I started singing very early, doing school productions from Pre-School on. Shortly out of High School I got invovled with different garage bands, doing gigs and recording 4 track demos. Strangely, I really always wanted to be a guitarist, but I’ve just never been very adept at it! I did play guitar in an industrial noise rock band for awhile, but it was a struggle for me. I played percussion in another band around that time too. It’s funny to think about those old bands now, in comparison to my work with Lovespirals. Speaking of Lovespirals, I began working with Ryan in early 1999.

JIANDA: Can you please explain the difference between Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards?

ANJI: When Ryan and I began working in 1999 on Drum ‘n’ Bass tunes, he was in a transitional period, unsure if he wanted to make another listening album or start releasing 12″ vinyl instead. At that time, we weren’t sure if our stuff was going to be released as Love Spirals Downwards or as some kind of side project. We were just recording songs and pressing dubplates for him to spin in his DJ sets, not sending them around to labels or trying to get them released. Then I made those tracks available online through mp3.com and folks started contacting us to include stuff on compilations, so by now all of them have been released somewhere or other, which is really cool. But I digress… It’s tremendously hard to explain exactly where or how things changed between Love Spirals Downwards and Lovespirals, because it was all just a natural progression.

Continue reading The Women of Mp3.com Interview →
Band News, Review

Gothic Paradise Reviews Windblown Kiss

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Website and radio station, Gothic Paradise, announced in their latest newsletter: “Added a review and information on the debut album from the newly formed Lovespirals, featuring the almost legendary, multi-talented Ryan Lum of Love Spirals Downwards fame. Combined with Anji Bee’s musical talents and beautiful voice, they’ve managed to create a very captivating sound. Their style reflects only vaguely Ryan’s previous work as Love Spirals Downwards and takes on a more Jazzier tone with touches of Flamenco, Folk and other genres. I like to compare them to the latest release from The Cranes — dreamy and experimental — and Julee Cruise — Ethereal and Jazzy. Great stuff and one of the latest releases on Projekt Records!“

Lovespirals Windblown Kiss Projekt (2002)

I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time and it’s been well worth the wait. I, like other fans of Love Spirals Downwards wasn’t sure of what to expect with this release. I had heard a little bit about it and had a listen of “Dejame” early on before the release. Also being a fan of Julee Cruise and hearing that similarity, I knew I was going to enjoy this album.

Combining so many instruments, different guitars, various styles including Flamenco, Jazz and a bit of Ethereal, everything comes together almost perfectly. The beginning track “Oh so long” really sets the somewhat melancholic yet jazzy mood for the album. The follow-up track “Dejame” is my favorite from this work of art. The Spanish lyrics are pensive and Anji’s vocals are beautiful and thought-provoking. There are some upbeat tracks that have an overall happy mood to them such as “He Calls Me”. “Windblown Kiss” is probably the track that can most closely be compared to the more Gothic Ethereal style with the acoustic elements and the overall dreamy feeling you get while listening to it, another favorite of mine.

Some other great points about this album are the additions of saxophone by Doron Orenstein. Also, the addition of male vocals by Sean Bowley on several tracks. There are other contributions by these artists and others with the entire production, including mastering by Robert Rich. Such a combination of musical styles and instruments along with the talents of this duo is just outright innovative and enjoyable. I think a wide audience will really enjoy this album. I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 rating, not quite perfect, more for my own tastes than for any flaws in the music.

— Jacob Bogedahl

See the Gothic Paradise band bio for Lovespirals at: http://www.gothicparadise.com/lovespirals.htm 

Also be sure to check out Gothic Paradise’s Ethereal channel radio programming!

Band News, Review

High Bias Reviews Windblown Kiss

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Another review of our new album came online.

An outgrowth of the Gothic dreampop band, Love Spirals Downwards, Lovespirals cast aside much of the previous incarnation’s psychedelic gloom while retaining its romantic angst. The airy arrangements and acoustic guitars put a new spin on the kind of emotional claustrophobia at which LSD was so adept.

“And it’s oh so long to wait/I lack the patience/Give me strength” Bee sighs in “Oh So Long” as she waits to be reunited with her lover; “Swollen Sea” and “I Can’t See You” also look for beauty in the pain of lost love. But Bee and Lum don’t forget joy: “Our Nights,” “He Calls Me” (which adds an overt spiritual dimension to the proceedings) and the title tune celebrate love instead of dreading it.

Interestingly, Lum and Bee invite guitarist/songwriter Sean Bowley from Eden to contribute vocals and lyrics to two cuts; the results are strong Gothic folk/pop songs, but they don’t fit with the rest of the record. Still, those songs don’t detract from an otherwise consistently beautiful treatise on romantic expression.

For fans of: the Cardigans, Cousteau, Everything But the Girl

— Michael Toland, High Bias

Get your copy of Lovespirals’ ‘Windblown Kiss’ CD from Projekt.com today!

Band News

Projekt Releases Windblown Kiss

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If you weren’t able to pick up a pre-release copy of our latest album at ProjektFest, you can now purchase Windblown Kiss for just $11.98 online from Projekt Records, including first class shipping!

Windblown Kiss is the first full-length album by Lovespirals, the beautiful, and beautifully surprising collaboration of Ryan Lum (the driving force behind legendary Love Spirals Downwards) and avant-garde singer/songwriter Anji Bee.

Renown multi-instrumentalist Lum once again creates musical landscapes of breathtaking beauty – and with vocal styles ranging from ethereal to earthy, sweet to sensual, Bee shows off her remarkable vocal range, and allows the full force of her voice to soar into the sublime. 

Drawing inspiration from Flamenco, Bebop, soul, folk and the stacks of early vinyl they each grew up loving, Lovespirals has created a timeless world of romance and intrigue. Leaving behind the conventional restraints of dance-floor tracks, this latest endeavor is at once a dreamscape of nostalgia, and a kiss blown to the future. 

Using half a dozen different guitars, and featuring the extraordinary talents of Doron Orenstein (of Toof) on saxophone, and Sean Bowley (of Eden) on acoustic guitar and vocals, Windblown Kiss is a celebration of creative anachronism: the past and the future negotiate a gorgeous balance.

— Projekt.com
Band News, Interview

Jive Magazine Interview and New Song

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Jive interviewed Ryan and Anji for the music section of their print magazine. Their website also features Lovespirals interview plus an mp3 of the brand new unreleased song, “Love Survives.” Be sure to check that out at www.jivemagazine.com and if you can pick up a copy of the magazine, snatch it up now!

May 2002, Jive Magazine, Russ Marshalek

Q: When did the Ryan/Anji collaborations begin, and how did that come to be?

Anji: Ryan and I started working together late 1998, early 1999. We pretty much hooked up through my radio show on KUCI 88.9 fm. He had me come over to his studio to check out some new stuff he was working on (which later turned out to be ‘Beatitude’ and ‘Love Survives’) and I was really into it. The first two songs we did, “Ecstatic” and “Hand in Hand,’ Ryan made dub plates of; he was more heavily into deejaying at that time.

Q: Is it a 50/50 sort of artistic collaboration, with one person writing music and the other writing vocals?

Anji: We actually write the songs together. There’s no one way we compose, exactly, but lately we’ve been working from guitar and vocal lines first. I go around singing things all the time, so I’ve got a backlog of song ideas to work on whenever he’s ready. Ryan plays guitar and bass, and can hack out stuff on keyboard, so he does all of that for us. He does most of the programming, too, I pretty much just co-write and produce along side of him. I don’t really play any instruments, but I’m into sampling and looping, and know my way around ProTools and Peak, which is what we basically use.

Continue reading Jive Magazine Interview and New Song →
Band News

ProjektFest 2002 is a wrap!

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Got back from Philly last night. We enjoyed ProjektFest more than we anticipated. It was nice to hang with Audra and Mira at the after parties, and to see old pals like Roachie, Johnny, Lisa etc… There’s some talk of us doing a West Coast tour with Mira this Summer, which would be really cool! We especially hope to hit Portland and San Francisco, where we have friends and family. Keep posted to our news section for updates!

Here’s some photos from Lovespirals whirlwind weekend. From the top left, Lovespirals doing soundcheck at The Trocodero Theatre, Ryan playing his new semi-hollow body guitar during our set, Ryan, Anji, and Doron performing at The Trocodero Theatre, Ryan and Anji doing a stripped down set at the Bizarre Bazaar, meeting fans at the Bazaar.Special thanks to Tome Wilson for photographing us — and for picking us up at the airport in a limo — and thank you to everyone who came out to see us!

Soundcheck at the Trocodero