All posts by ryan

Echoes CD of the Month: Falling You ‘Metanoia’ feat. Love Spirals

Echoes Radio host John Diliberto has chosen Falling You’s new album, Metanoia, as the CD of the Month for March 2026. Not only will it be featured on the nationally syndicated program tomorrow night (Monday 3/2/26), but there is also a lovely review posted on the site.

Echoes March CD of the Month: ‘Metanoia’ by Falling You. Brush up on your Greek mythology when we journey from the ancient to the future with Falling You’s deliriously beautiful and poignant remaking of ancient, archetypal myths as searing dream pop.

Of the track that Ryan and Anji Lum contributed lyrics, vocals, instruments, and production to, Diliberto said:

The album ends with the third epic track, “Philomena,” named for the Christian martyr. It’s a tale which illustrates that Catholics could match Greek and Roman mythological legends in fantastical tales. Vocalist Anji Lum turns it into a fable of strength over adversity with RyanLum dropping-in ambient guitar textures and reverberant, blues-laced accents. It’s a track that ends the album as strong as it began.

Continue reading Echoes CD of the Month: Falling You ‘Metanoia’ feat. Love Spirals

“Gray” Single & Music Video Out Now

Love Spirals Downwards open 2026 with Gray,” a hushed, late-night single that finds Ryan and Anji Lum leaning deeper into restraint, atmosphere, and emotional stillness. Grounded in the project’s familiar minor-key gravity, the song blends evocative samples and muted, trap-influenced rhythms with Ryan Lum’s signature layering electric and acoustic guitars, soft electronics, and emotive string machine textures — modern in its pulse, yet unmistakably Lovespirals in tone.

Anji Lum’s vocal performance is deliberately subdued, allowing the lyrics’ sense of numbness and inertia to take center stage. The chorus is strikingly minimal, contrasting a delayed, disembodied sample of the word “gray” with Anji’s haunting, high ethereal response. Only in the bridge do harmonies bloom, briefly lifting the song with nostalgic warmth before receding again, while Ryan’s guitar work culminates in a classic Lovespirals solo — restrained, melodic, and quietly expressive.

Created by Anji using archival personal footage, the accompanying music video mirrors the song’s emotional terrain through largely monochromatic imagery, punctuated by fleeting bursts of color during moments of remembered warmth. Together, the single and video form a unified, introspective statement.

“Gray” is available now on all major streaming platforms, with the music video streaming on YouTube.

Watch the official music video for “Gray”:

Download “Gray” in your choice of digital audio format on Bandcamp or stream via SpotifyApple MusicAmazon MusicYouTube Music, or your fave digital music platform.

Love Spirals Contribute to Falling You ‘Metanoia’

It’s been eight years since ambient musician John Zorko last released an album under his Falling You collective, but he’s finally returned with a new full-length inspired by the myths of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

John first reached out to Anji Lum in 2023 to contribute lyrics and vocals to a track for the project. As Anji explained in  Chillin’ with Lovespirals Episode 101, she initially struggled with how to approach the material before ultimately embracing the story of Philomena. The imagery of a woman turned caged nightingale, using birdsong to achieve personal liberation and vindication, felt especially fitting for the album’s theme. Her blend of original lyrics sung in a soothing lower register with spoken passages drawn from Sir Samuel Garth’s 1717 English translation of Ovid, bridges the modern and the archaic.

Continue reading Love Spirals Contribute to Falling You ‘Metanoia’

“Drift Begins” Single & Video Out Now

Lovespirals’ final single of 2025 finds them drifting into liminal territory with “Drift Begins.” Built around soft piano and ethereal pads, the track reaches back into Ryan Lum’s early ’90s sonic palette, with gentle acoustic guitar, chiming electric lines, and even the same vintage drum machine he used on his first few albums. The effect is a warm, windswept echo of his Projekt-era roots, reimagined with the benefit of modern equipment and production techniques.

The song’s stately 6/8 meter, softened edges, and misty lyrical imagery subtly echo the contemplative spirit of Pink Floyd’s 1972 song “Burning Bridges,” reflecting the duo’s longstanding affection for mid-period Floyd. While Ryan’s emotive, smoothly distorted, suspended solo inevitably recalls David Gilmour, Anji’s vocals also nod to that era, hovering between intimacy and reverie in luminous two-part harmony. Elsewhere, Anji’s high and low registers intertwine in a way that recalls the aching duality Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead carried across both Slowdive and Mojave 3. 

Continue reading “Drift Begins” Single & Video Out Now

Little Drummer Boy on Streaming Platforms

Originally recorded in 1999 for Projekt’s Excelsis vol. 2 ~ a winter’s song compilation, “The Little Drummer Boy” by Love Spirals Downwards is a playful yet atmospheric throwback to the band’s Flux era—when Ryan Lum was exploring breakbeats, airy pads, 808 basslines, and flowing syncopated rhythms.

This drum & bass–infused reimagining of the holiday classic features Suzanne Perry’s luminous vocals wrapped in surprisingly contemporary production, along with melodic jazz Rhodes by guest musician Gabriel D. Vine, who also contributed to “Beatitude” from the 2001 Ecstatic EP.

After Projekt declined the track, Lum made the MP3 available through lovespirals.com for the 1999 holidays, later bringing it to platforms like MP3.com, MySpace, SoundCloud, and YouTube before finally releasing it on Bandcamp in 2011.

Now, “The Little Drummer Boy” is receiving its first official release on major streaming platforms—including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music—so you can finally add this long-hidden holiday gem to your festive playlists.

“Without You” Single & Video Out Now

Lovespirals’ “Without You” is a lush, soul-baring ballad that blends Ryan and Anji Lum’s signature dream pop core with classic neo-soul vibes. Built upon a smooth foundation of acoustic and electric piano, the track is enriched by emotive strings and understatedly expressive guitar work. Ryan explores intricate chord voicings—extended harmonies like spacious ninths and fragile half-diminished chords—that mirror the push and pull between longing and reassurance. Weaving effortlessly through the instrumentation, Anji’s vocals are a captivating blend of rich, soulful natural low tones and shimmering high harmonies, delivering warmth and delicate vulnerability.

Though released under the revived Love Spirals Downwards moniker, “Without You” feels like a heartfelt return to form for Lovespirals, echoing the warm, soulful textures that defined their 2000s-era chillout sound. The release coincides with the 20th anniversary of Free & Easy (2005), the album that first crystallized the Lums’ seamless fusion of dream pop, soul, and downtempo elegance. Its sonic lineage extends through the bittersweet R&B feel of “Life Goes On” (2018) and “Why Not Today” (2023), as well as the duo’s forays into jazzy downtempo and electronica on Anji Bee’s 2013 album, Love Me Leave Me.

Following the introspective melancholy of “Nothing Even Matters Anymore” and the alluring electro-chillout of “Glittering,” “Without You” stands as both a homecoming and an evolution—an elegant meditation on enduring love, fear of loss, and the passage of time, glowing with the smooth sophistication that has long defined the Lums’ music. 

“Without You” is available now on SpotifyApple MusicAmazon Music, YouTube Music and other streaming platforms under the original band name, Love Spirals Downwards, as well as on Bandcamp under both LSD and Lovespirals. You can also watch a lyrics visualizer video on YouTube.

“Nothing Even Matters Anymore” Single & Video Released

Lovespirals dropped their latest single a week early exclusively for Bandcamp Friday, but the official release date is today, September 12th, on all streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.

A haunting blend of gothic-tinged dream pop and atmospheric chill, “Nothing Even Matters Anymore” moves from hushed resignation to soaring catharsis. Anji Lum’s luminous vocal harmonies and Ryan Lum’s ethereal guitar weave a melancholic sound ideal for late-night reflection.

A lyric visualiser video is simultaneously available on YouTube:

New Remix Release: Love Spirals Downwards x Blue Ringed Baby & Kamī

Had the pleasure of reimagining “Molten” by Blue Ringed Baby + Kami for their upcoming album on Goddezz. Took me back to the headspace I was in while making ‘Flux’ in 1997-98. Give it a listen! 

Shimmering breaks, weightless motion, glitched sparks of melody, lightness and transcendence… with Molten featuring inspirations and production from close collaborator of the duo bbsanii, the release is also accompanied by a rare remix from Love Spirals Downwards, the seminal 90s ethereal wave and dream-pop band whose work helped define an era of ambient electronica, jungle and atmospheric soundscapes. Their reimagining of “molten” drifts into lounge-inspired bliss, with dreamy guitars and a laid-back rhythmic sway.

Out now on Bandcamp, as well as streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music.

Lost in Ohio Drops New Flux Eco-Vinyl Pressing

Originally released on CD in 1998, Flux has remained Love Spirals Downwards’ most beloved album. After the 2024 white vinyl reissue from Lost in Ohio quickly sold out, the label is meeting continued demand with this special 2025 edition.

This pressing is made from 100% recycled colored vinyl. With a recent upgrade at the pressing plant, even colored scraps can now be reprocessed—creating unique, multicolored records from in-house production waste. The exact color of each LP is unpredictable, but the sound quality is consistent and true.

The plant’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond the vinyl itself. It runs on green, CO₂-neutral energy with solar power, repurposes heat from the pressing process to warm the building, and prints sleeves with bio-inks on FSC-certified cardboard. All packaging materials are recycled as well.

We’re grateful that Flux continues to resonate and proud to share a version that is both musically enduring and environmentally responsible.

Reflections on LSD’s Ever from Peru Avantgarde

A lovely piece looking back on how the 1996 release of Love Spirals Downwards’ third album, Ever, affected listeners in Peru has surfaced. Dramatically entitled, “LSD IN LIMA: When the Ethereal Became a Trench”, Wilder Gonzales Agreda recalls how the duo’s ethereal sound arrived in Lima not through radio or TV, but passed hand-to-hand in the underground—photocopied tapes, hidden record shops, and shared rituals of listening that turned the fragile into a form of resistance.

“In a tense, brutal, and ugly city, Ever was like a crack of clean water. Music that didn’t scream ‘resistance’ but was, simply because it taught us we could also inhabit the fragile—that which lasts only an instant but stays tattooed in being forever.”

Part album review, part memoir, it’s an interesting read. Noticed he just posted a new interview with our Projekt label mate, Scott Cortez, as well as a review of Nearfield by my old buddies, Closedown, as well. Check it out!