Love Spirals Downwards recently appeared in the German fanzine, Black. The following is an English translation of the interview by Thomas Wacker.
The reputation of the “Ethereal Wave” precedes PROJEKT mainly because this label, next to BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL, has one of the best—if not the best—”Heavenly Voices” bands: LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS. This is Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry, who first caused a sensation in 1992 with their debut album, ‘Idylls.’ Suzanne’s angelic, lovely voice especially delights critics and journalists, and their global fan community continues to grow.
Already in the 3rd edition of BLACK, I tried to interview Ryan Lum and failed miserably because I tried to interpret too much into the music and the meaning, and he simply wouldn’t give any information on this. I don’t want to give the impression that Ryan and Suzanne think they are above their music, and I certainly don’t want to defame the artists… no, on the contrary, I like the music of LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS very much. Nevertheless, it is my job as a journalist to engage with the music and the artist and convey a picture of both to the readers.
Bryan Reeseman interviewed Ryan for a profile on Love Spirals Downwards in New Age Voice Magazine. Check out their Q & A.
Bryan: Previous L.S.D. albums have featured an ethereal, airy sound which equally balanced the vocals, guitars, and synths. What can we expect from the new album?
Ryan: Actually there’s never been that much in the way of sythns; perhaps there’s 2 songs each on Idylls and Ardor that have sythns. As far as instruments go, it’s always been more of a guitar –particularly acoustic guitar– based sound. Ever, our new album, sort of paradoxically, goes more into both a more stripped-down acoustic guitar and vocal sound, to a more all electronic sampler, analog synths, and drum machine base.
Bryan: How did you choose the direction for “Ever”?
Ryan: It just sort of happens on its own. Getting new equipment and always growing as a person makes it always new and different.
Ever, our new full length CD, still looks right on track for being released on the week of September 15, 1996. What that boils down to is you won’t see it in stores until October, but you will be able order it direct from Projekt that week. It’s hard for me to describe what it sounds like, but everyone at the label seems to agree that Ever is different than our previous albums. Sideways Forest, our new CD-single, has been out for about a month now. The label tells me that the trip-hoppy “Quantum Remix” of “Sideways Forest” (which is only on the CD-single) has been getting a bit more radio and club play than normal.
We have no upcoming shows planned and it seems that we are done playing live for the year. If this changes, I’ll mention it here. We are planning on doing more shows next year.
