“Into a Well of the Looking Glass” by Aaron Johnston

I was always involved with the ethereal music scene, but never to the degree where it became a driving passion. The nature and tone of the music was, in essence, a very articulate reflection of who I was in self, but there were simply no bands I knew of pushing the sound beyond its gates to a point of unavoidable adoration on my part. It wasn’t simply a matter of finding the perfect band, but of finding the perfect window. Through time and dedication, any group could eventually release an album with the most delicately perfect instrumentation and ideally placed melodic trim, but what is it if there is no decisive emotional push behind it? This question was at the forefront of my mind for many years, and was finally answered one evening as I sat down to listen to a prodigal young instrumentalist named Ryan Lum conspire with an astonishingly angelic vocalist named Suzanne Perry under the name Love Spirals Downwards.

Within a matter of moments, the two managed to capture a well of feelings and affections wrought with a long-held yearning for excommunication and deliverance; a subtle and pure exorcism of the soul. I always thought this kind of experience was a bit too “new age” to be truly revealed to anyone living in the real world, but I was disproved time and time again with each successive listen. I was, in all honesty, baffled by the two arms which were weaving me through the first stages of my spiritual and emotional re-education. Ryan and Suzanne had me wrapped around their fingers, plain and simple. Rather than a feeling of manipulation, however, I was a willing participant. Although it was the effort of two, the group worked almost in a doubled unison. I was traded between Ryan’s deep guitar and keyboard exchanges and Suzanne’s beautiful vocal raptures time and again with abandon. In essence, it felt as if I were being led along by a single hand with two separate bodies, two distinct minds thinking and reacting as one.

“Ecstasy of Angels: Love Spirals Downwards” By Rossi Dudrick

Winged for an astral Odyssey, you’ll soar on a freed soul fantasia, where elation and melancholy are locked in epoch embrace. A sweet chanteuse’s vocals seem to sweep over misty moors, while guitar chords fall like shimmery sunlight on deep pools of tranquility. The height of your ascension is up to you, for even a modern day Icarus now has a second chance.

Although Love Spirals Downwards’ music seems to flow from a wellspring of divine inspiration, the creators of these soft-focus mood montages have no stigmatas flooding their teacups.  Such cameo apparitions burst like soap bubbles upon meeting the diaphanous duo, vocalist Suzanne Perry, and guitarist Ryan Lum.  In the midst of a torrential downpour, they look like two fresh-faced college kids on a tailgater’s rush indoors for safe harbor more than members of the ethereal’s exotic elite.

Over a rainy day breakfast in a ‘50’s time warp diner, the pertinent debate of the moment is omelets vs. blueberry pancakes.  It’s unanimous; stacks of belly whopping blues all around!  Hunger pangs aside, Suzanne and Ryan exude an easygoing warmth and unpretentiousness that sparks candid rapport. “Most people are surprised that we’re down-to-earth, normal people, always joking and really practical; not head in the clouds types,” emphasizes Suzanne. “But what confounds most people is how little time I spend thinking about my music, or think[ing] of myself as a musician.”