Tag Archives: Ever

Audio, Band News

Ever Remastered Reissue On Bandcamp

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The long-awaited remastered and expanded reissue of our 1996 album Ever is now available on Bandcamp for digital download. This new version features amazing sound with better clarity and fidelity, and it’s twice the original length. It includes 22 tracks: 4 never-before-heard instrumentals, 3 cover songs (including our version of “Candle Song” by Mojave 3), a rare vocal electronica track called “Echoes,” and more. Even the artwork has been enhanced to highlight the beauty of this dreamy electro-acoustic album. You can read more about it on our album page.

“Slow, somber, and beautiful beyond reason, this LSD just might be the burgeoning leader of another full-on ethereal rock revival. Lie down and be counted with tracks like “Sideways Forest,” El Pedregal,” and “Delta.”

— M. Tye Comer, Associate Creative Director at Spotify

Audio, Band News

Expanded “Sideways Forest” EP Out Now

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For the first time ever, the 1996 ‘Sideways Forest Single’ is available digitally! This was the only CD-single ever released by Love Spirals Downwards, and while you can still find a few used copies of the CD online, it has been largely unavailable the past decade. In addition to the album mix from ‘Ever’, the ‘Quantum Remix’, and and b-side instrumental, “Amarillo,” this expanded reissue also features 2 bonus tracks: the recently unearthed “Acoustic Mix” created by Ryan in 1996 — PLUS a live version of the ‘Quantum Remix’ recorded at ProjektFest 1997. While the “Quantum Remix” was never released digitally, neither of these bonus tracks have been previously released in ANY format, making this a very special release. The cover artwork has been recreated with a slight update using the original photo taken by Barbara Dowis. The Sideways Forest EP is also available for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify.

“Beautiful arrangements and heavenly vocals have always been at the heart of Love Spirals Downwards’ work, and the Sideways Forest EP is a great example of the band at their best.”

— RIKM
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Band News

LSD on iTunes Essentials Shoegaze Playlist

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Our 1996 track “Madras,” from Ever, was selected as a “Deep Cut” for the iTunes Essentials Shoegaze & Beyond playlist alongside legendary bands Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, and more. Here’s what iTunes has to say about the Deep Cuts selections:

All things must pass, intense musical movements included, but when the first-wave shoegazers finally looked up from their footwear, what they saw was a whole new scene that they themselves had begotten. The proof is in the Deep Cuts…

Pretty cool!

Review

AV Club Reviews Ever

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The Onion’s AV Club has posted a fairly positive review of Love Spirals Downwards’ 1996 album, Ever, both in their newspaper and on their website:

The Onion V 30, #18:

In the past 10 years, countless shoegazing dream-pop bands have come and gone, leaving behind a large but largely forgotten body of lush, languorous work. If that ethereal little subgenre is dead, Love Spirals Downwards plays “post-shoegazer” music, co-opting the crisply pretty guitar lines and billowy female vocals—and stripping away the layers of cloudiness that typify the work of bands like Slowdive and pre-1995 Lush. Ever , Love Spirals Downwards’ third album, plays through like one long, meandering voice, albeit one that’s sometimes fed through filters or accompanied by acoustic guitars and the occasional electronic noise. Singer Suzanne Perry has one of those high, hypnotic voices that swoop and soar dramatically, and it’s awfully pretty to listen to. It’s just too bad that a substantial portion of Ever is devoted to ambient noodling rather than simple, unpretentious voice-and-guitar tracks like “El Pedregal” and “Lieberflusse.” Still, it’s a nice, airy surprise, recalling many of the best things about a lot of dead-and-gone bands.

—Stephen Thompson, AV Club

Band News

Flux update

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Hello. Sorry for not updating the news for a little while; I’ve been away most of the summer and am finally back home. Lots has happened since the last update, the big news being the release of Flux a few weeks ago. We’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with the great response that it’s receiving. Flux has been charting on the college radio charts and is even number 1 on several stations.

Flux has been selling great, better than all our previous releases. In mid September through mid November, it will be in listening stations in all the Borders stores. Flux is or will be in listening stations and on sale at many Virgin, Media Play, and Tower Records stores, as well. I’ve seen Flux at most places I’ve been to, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding it (a nice change compared to when Ever was released).

For all you gearheads out there, we will be in the November issue of Keyboard magazine, which will be on sale in October. They did an interview with me while I was staying in in San Francisco last month. I talked about the gear and processes used in making Flux, while enjoying a pleasant dinner of Indian food with their writer Markkus Rovito.

We contributed the Flux track, ‘Nova,’ to Loraine, A KUCI 88.9 fm benefit compilation. Besides being a worthwhile double-cd benefit comp, it has some great tracks of ‘intelligent’ electronic music, with songs from Bassland, Simply Jeff, Uberzone, Gearwhore, THC, Robert Rich, Surface 10, and many others. It is a very cool limited edition compilation. For more information, see the Peach website at www.peachfuzz.net.

Thanks to everybody who has emailed us or wrote in our guestbook about enjoying Flux so much! I personally think Flux is our best release so far, and am surprised and happy to hear that so many of you think the same. Our website here has been redesigned too, as some of you may notice. I hope you like the new look. Also, be sure to check back here regularly for the latest info on what’s happening with us. A few shows are being talked about and I will post more info on those as soon as it becomes available.

And check out the new Massive Attack CD, it rocks!

Interview

Interview in Sturm und Drang, Winter 1997/98

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They say that every style has a limited life, from its prosperous origins to decline. There is, however, a current that has been in force for quite a few years and that has not declined at all: the heavenly voices. What began in the 80s with 4AD and continued with Hyperium now stars Projekt, a very successful American label that treasures some of the best ethereal music bands, such as LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS, a Los Angeles duo formed by guitarist Ryan Lum and vocalist Suzanne Perry. In 1992 he made his debut with ‘Idylls,’ followed by ‘Ardor’ and his great and last work, ‘Ever.’

By Sonia Garcia

SUD: What is the meaning of the band name?

Ryan: Love Spirals Downwards? Does it have something to do with the acronyms that are formed with the initials, that is, the psychedelic LSD, and the effect that your music can cause?

Ryan: It’s just a name, we had to call ourselves somehow: it doesn’t mean anything.

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Band News, Interview

KUCI 88.9 FM Winter 1997 Program Guide

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Interview and photography by Ned Raggett

It’s a beautiful name, Love Spirals Downwards. It calls up so many wonderful images, but the name would mean little if the band wasn’t so good as well. With Ryan Lum on guitars and other instruments and Suzanne Perry on vocals, LSD have created three excellent albums for Projekt Records over the past few years. The most recent, Ever, is quite something; a wonderful wash of Lum’s layered, exquisite acoustic and electric guitar work and Perry’s truly angelic vocals. LSD played an acoustic set on KUCI on Friday, November 15, after which they sat down for a talk about many and varied things — and during which they proved to have, as a duo, one of the best repartees around!

Ned: Ryan has mentioned elsewhere that he was trying to experiment more with electronics on this album. As the singer, what do you try to do on the new album that was different from the past?

Suzanne: I don’t know if ever try and aim for anything, I just see what comes out. The only aim is to do something different — or at least feels different. I don’t necessarily make something different, or consciously try to be different… I don’t know if this makes sense?

Ned: I’ve heard stranger explanations!

Ryan: I lost her!

Ned:  Well,  here’s another question for you, Suzanne…

Suzanne: Ask me a simple one, ‘cause I’m really stupid!

Ned: A simple one it is. Who are your influences, singing or lyrically?

Suzanne: Oh… (pause)

Ned: Never mind, that’s not so simple. Cancel!

Continue reading KUCI 88.9 FM Winter 1997 Program Guide →
Band News

News & Updates

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This is Ryan from Love Spirals Downwards.

If you had trouble locating our latest releases, Ever and the CD-single Sideways Forest, our label has finally solved the distribution problem that it was facing at the time of these releases. Now, they should be pretty easy to find at Tower, Borders, and most other record stores.


We have just two shows planned for this summer. First, we will be in Chicago at the Vic Theater for the Projekt Festival. We will play on the first night on Friday August 1. Tickets are $30 — which covers admission to both Friday & Saturday evenings( or $20 for one night). Tickets are on sale at the Vic box office, through Ticketmaster (Chicago only), or from Projekt at 312-913-9162. And on Saturday August 16, we will play again in Mexico City at the Cine Bella Epoca (Tamaulipas Y Alfonso Reyes S/N, Col. Condesa). Fellow Projekt artists Lycia and Arcanta will be playing as well. More info on these shows can be found on the Projekt ‘live’ page on their web site (www.projekt.com/live).


For those who are wondering, we are working on new music, some of which we are playing live. So, we should have a new album released next year. And for those who have asked about lyrics, sorry but we don’t have them available.

Band News

Ever Distribution

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There were a few things that happened in the past few months regarding our music distribution that I would like to mention. The German release of Ever happened a few months back, with EFA being the new distributor for Projekt in Germany. And in the United States, we now have great distribution here through ADA, a Warner subsidiary.

Many people have written to us saying how difficult it was to find Ever and our other releases. I too had a tough time finding them. Now our CDs are everywhere once again: Tower, Borders, and all sorts of other stores. So, if you haven’t got it yet, now’s the perfect time to get a copy of Ever .

Band News, Interview

Acoustic Guitar Interview

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SOUND SPIRALS UPWARDS

By Bryan Reeseman

“ONE THING I LIKE ABOUT OUR NEW album is that it’s almost impossible to categorize with any of the conventional musical categories,” declares Ryan Lum, guitarist and keyboard player for Love Spirals Downwards. “There are really folky songs, really electronic ambient dance songs, and then these weird, loopy psychedelic songs. I think it all works together really well. It isn’t a huge shock from one to the next.”

Lum and vocalist Suzanne Perry create a lush, inviting sonic template on their third and newest album, Ever. 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, all of which produce a captivating kind of romantic, ethereal folk.

Live, Lum uses two tunings: standard and E A D G A D, a variation on D A D G A D. “Instead of my first note being D, it’s E,” he says. “That way, all the strings are tuned normally except for the high two strings, so I can fret chords on the low strings as I normally would and have all those drones on the top two strings.”

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