“2001: 10 Best From a Year of Blood and Fire” The Chinese curse about interesting times comes to mind when reviewing 2001: so does the line about rough beasts slouching toward Bethlehem. For much of 2001 world events made it difficult to concentrate on silly things like music and entertainment. Still, there were some excellent releases this year, as Gothic and Industrial Music lurched into the 21st century.
10/9 Tie: Lovespirals Ecstatic (Projekt) & Claire Voyant Time Again (Metropolis)
As synthpop’s rise led inexoribly to its decline, some Gothic/Industrial artists have started looking toward other avenues of inspiration. On these releases, Lovespirals and Claire Voyant provide tasty Illbient and Trip Hop influenced grooves and give us a harbinger of Goth’s Next BigThing.
(Ed. note: it should be noted that “Time Again” includes a track remixed by Lovespirals.)
A review of Temporal appeared in Outburn Magazine #12. Projekt sent along a clipping to share. It reads:
REMIXES AND SINGLES FROM INNOVATIVE SHOEGAZERS: I can’t think of any ethereal band more sonically enchanting or musically daring than Love Spirals Downwards. No group has pushed the boundaries of the shoegazer sound since the formative days of the 4AD label during the 1980’s. Over four albums, programmer, Ryan Lum, and vocalist, Suzanne Perry, have deftly weaved solemn soundscapes with intelligent, thoughtful poetry. Unafraid of emerging electronic styles, Lum embraced ideas from genres as disparate as drum & bass and goth to evolve Love Spirals Downwards’ unique sound. Temporal serves as a great introduction to their music, a thirteen track CD offering remixes of “Misunderstood” and “Alicia” from 1998’s Flux, as well as songs from their earlier albums. Hearing early songs like the tenebrous “Ladonna Dissima” from 1992’s Idylls illustrates how versatile and adventurous the duo is. Fans will also appreciate “Amarillo” and “Mediterranea,” previously only available as singles or on compilations. This release reminds me of how much I anxiously await Love Spirals Downwards’ next album. ~ David Slatton
URB Issue No. 75 June 2000 features a review of our retrospective album released by Projekt earlier this year:
Temporal (Projekt) A few years ago, a couple of phenomena exploded out of the UK and into the American consciousness: the post-Portishead wave of trip-hop groups (basically. anything with beats and a female singer), plus the smooth drum & bass most prominently showcased stateside via LTJ Bukem. Both of those models have found a happy hybrid in the recent music of Love Spirals Downwards. But LSD’s existence predates either of those styles. The electronic washes and gentle tug of implied beats carried along their early, ethereal pop. It was a perfect platform for Ryan Lum’s compositional evolution toward the quiet but emphatic breakbeats heard on LSD’s 1998 CD, Flux. Temporal is a collection which looks back through the haze, opening with three tracks that have their genesis in the Flux sessions: two unreleased remixes and an album cut. The music then drifts backward in time, showcasing an increasingly ambient sensibility in tracks that date all the way to 1992. Whether or not these numbers have appeared on the group’s full-lengths, they show consistency in one key respect the crystal-clear voice of Suzanne Perry. It’s all very lovely, a nice sound to chill to after a hard night of pounding kick drums.
A sassy review of Temporal appears in Magnet MagazineIssue 44 for April/May 2000. Projekt send over a press clipping to share. It reads:
As one of the most consistent ethereal bands of the last decade, Love Spirals Downwards has absolutely nowhere to go but … down. This retrospective collection of unreleased and hard-to-find synthetic dreamscapes succeeds on a variety of cosmic levels. With Ryan Lum writing and performing the music and Suzanne Perry providing the words and vocals, LSD is an exotically insular sound machine. While Lum’s grasp of technology isn’t always distinctive and Perry’s warble can feel overly familiar, the pair still generates a dramatic wall of sound that stands proudly alongside the works of Dead Can Dance and the Cocteau Twins. Using slight touches of acoustic guitar, saxophone and percussion on top of their ambient/goth electronics and windswept vocals, Perry and Lum are able to create and sustain a mood that’s nearly alien and wholly atmospheric. Still, if you don’t enjoy working your way through a vast abyss of chiming guitars, swirling synthesizers and haunting female croons, Temporal may not be the ideal purchase. Achromatically packaged and containing moodist masterworks like “Asleep,” “Depression Glass” and “This Endris Night,” this album certainly has the icy sound required to keep things properly evocative. Anyone else feel like having an absinthe?
A new review of Temporal has appeared in Lexicon Magazine #15, and Projekt sent along a clipping to share. I appreciate L’Ange Noir’s Huxley reference in this quirky review, and find myself wondering which record store they work at.
Smooth and relaxing as if on holiday, this new album by Love Spirals Downwards is like dropping “three (grammes) for a dark eternity on the moon” in reference to Huxley’s soma holiday. For the novice this is the definitive starting point for an acquaintance with LSD and most definitely a great way to get to know the Darkwave/Ethereal genre that predominates Sam Rosenthal’s Projekt label.
A short but sweet review appears in Side-Line Magazine, Issue 31 April/June 2000. Projekt sent over a press clipping, which reads:
I love anything this band puts out. This collection of works is no exception. They always give the listener a treat with their beautiful music. Their songs are made up of Ryan Lum’s smooth guitar work and Suzanne Perry’s lovely, yet haunting voice. They have also utilized the talents of some special guests over the years including guitar, saxophone, and even vocals. The tracks on “Temporal” are a varied selection of Love Spirals Downwards’ songs ranging from their first release, “Idylls,” in 1992 through to “Flux” in 1998. The best part about this release is the addition of 5 tracks previously unavailable on any of their past albums. A must-have for any Love Spirals Downwards fan; of which I’m sure there are many!
There’s a new review of ‘Temporal‘ in the ‘Inside Borders‘ store magazine for February. Be sure to check out our album in the Borders listening stations this month!
Drifting Toward a Romantic Twilight
Just as Valentine’s Day can bring about all kinds of emotions with regards to romantic love, so can romantic music take on many different forms. Such is the case with the duo known as Love Spirals Downwards. They were one the first acts to exist on the Projekt record label, which has been a specialist in all manner of gothic, electron ambient, and other various ethereal kinds of music for over 10 years now. From their 1992 debut, Idylls, to 1998’s very popular Flux, Love Spirals Downwards has always existed in a moody, enchanting universe all its own, thanks to the music scapes of guitarist/keyboardist Ryan Lum, and the unearthly crooning of vocalist Suzanne Perry. Their earlier releases contain haunting, drifting melodies and layered, melancholy vocals reminiscent of Enya, while later albums incorporate some gentle yet vital dancebeats into the spell. Now, Love Spirals Downwards releases a long-overdue retrospective titled Temporal. It features 13 songs spanning all of their albums and singles, and includes six previously unreleased tracks. It is a comprehensive overview of the duo’s many shades. Whether you’re relaxing in the dark tranquility of post-first-date bliss, or are swimming in the nostalgia of love lost, this album will help keep you warm.
Anji Bee, DJ and music director at KUCI 88.9 FM, wrote a review of our new Projekt release, Temporal: A Collection of Music Past & Present. Anji actually designed the cover art for the CD, including some of her own photography. Her review reads, in part:
“From their hauntingly beautiful acoustic beginnings to their present drum and bass and electronica sound, this compilation covers the entirety of Love Spirals’ career with 13 tracks culled from their master tapes. Arranged in groups of three songs from the four major periods of recording, Temporal begins at the end, with a set of remixes from the last studio album, Flux, done by Ryan last summer.
“Alicia” is a flamenco spiced bossa nova drum’n’bass tune with lovely acoustic guitar licks provided by Rodney Rodriguez of The Von Trapps. With the remix, the vocals are downplayed, and the rhythm made stronger. Lots of ethereal pads have been added, to subsitute for the old analogy keyboards of the original. “Misunderstood” has been almost entirely revamped with exciting breakbeats and lots of fabulous moody saxophone played by Doron Orenstein of Toof. This remix is my favorite track of the album for sure.
The nationally syndicated radio show Echoes is offering the classic 1995 Projekt holiday compilation CD, Excelsis, on their site as part of their recommended holiday music list. Here’s their review:
An album that gets into the mood of Christmas in the deepest way. You’ve never heard these traditional carols performed so darkly. Projekt Records has gathered many of their gothic bands together on this collection and the results are startling atmospheric and resonant. You will not forget Area’s haunting take on “O Come Emmanuel,” nor the two radically different versions of “Carol of the Bells,” Arcanta’s Gregorian like sonorities and This Ascensions joyful synthesizer laden refrains. Love Spirals Downwards goes furthest afield for their tune, “Welcome Christmas” from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas.’ This is an album we wish we could play year round, but it’s too perfect for Christmas.
The Morbid Outlook website published an article by Carlos Dengler of WNYU’s “Theatrum Aethereum.” Entitled Many Faces of Ethereal, it lists Love Spirals Downwards’ 1992 album, Idylls, as an example of the “pop/rock” side of ethereal music.
Dengler also provided the following review:
From the first plucked chords of “Ilusory Me” to the final cadence of “And the Wood Comes into Leaf” we are engulfed by a peace and sweetness that is, ironically enough, familiar. Out of all the chosen representatives of this genre, Love Spirals Downwards is the most acceptable to general audiences. Dare we call it “pop ethereal”? In Idylls the mood explored is still reminiscent of the dark and the mournful that are so definitive of the genre but the moods are contextualized within song formats (ie-verse/chorus), drums often enter for rhythmical impetus, and Suzanne Perry sings playfully, like a child on a swing. This is ethereal that reflects our world more than the rest. Not rejecting the forms and conventions that pop music has engendered, this is ethereal that seeks to explore our world instead of attempting to escape it. Ryan Lum’s lush sonics and simple chord changes keep us tuned in viscerally, without aweing us into submission. This is ethereal for the heart and the pulse –and by implication– for our lives.
Ethereal Shoegaze and Electronica from Projekt Records and Chillcuts
