Interview by Philip H. Farber

Love Spirals Downwards is only nominally a band. Really, they are something more of a recording project undertaken by the duo of Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry, just having fun with their music in a home studio. The result, though, has been three albums of atmospheric, ethereal music that has the ability to transport the listener in remarkable ways. Lum and Perry have degrees in philosophy and psychology, respectively. The effectiveness of the music makes one wonder how much of their academic training plays into their art, though they tend to deny any specific influence. Their first two albums, Idylls and Ardor, were critically acclaimed, and even if this isn’t exactly the stuff of top-forty hits, they developed a solid following. Ever, their latest effort (on the Projekt label), will likely take these musicians even farther, although that may not have been their intention in recording it.

PHF: I’m only familiar with your current album, Ever. Are the previous two albums similar in tone?

Ryan: They are similar in a certain respect. I think they are very different in a certain respect. We don’t like to make the same album. Once we’ve done it, we like to move on and do something different. The first one, Idylls, is more dreamy-sounding, more eastern, more like Indian music, not much intelligible English. The guitars are more processed. It’s a floaty-airy kind of record. The second one, Ardor, is more poppy, I guess? We have some structured pop songs. She sings in English a bit more. There are less effects on the guitars. Ever branches out in all different directions. Each of the previous two had a certain sound that was at the core of it all. Ever just went off every which way that we indulged ourselves in.

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.

This Florida-based Heavy Metal ‘zine reached out for an interview, which was a fun change of pace. The following is a transcript:

Love Spirals Downwards. You may not be familiar with this name. Sure, it’s not a HM band. It’s from another underground genre, Ambient. LSD is organized by just two persons: Ryan & Suzanne. He basically does all the instructions in this music, and she does the haunting ethereal vocals. This is the topnotch atmospheric music I really recommend to listen to. Just buy and check all their 3 albums out. They are the high quality music. Well, this interview will more interest you.

SOM: Are you guys vegetarians? Do you still have a thing with Subway or Taco Bell?

Ryan: I prefer Taco bell, though. I used to be a vegetarian. But after living with Suzanne, it’s hard to not eat meat, so I’ll eat it. I don’t feel too bad about it though, because humans are basically scavengers. We are both omnivores and carnivores, so in nature humans have eaten whatever was there, meat or vegetable, to stay alive. But, I still don’t eat much meat. You could call me a bad vegetarian. Taco Bell is still as my favorite fast food.

SOM: Well, if you categorize yourselves as Gothic, it’s not a common form of Goth today, don’t you think? I mean, Goth is sometimes much stronger than emotional side of it. Please tell us how Gothic (musically, and else) you are.

Ryan: I’m about as gothic as Snoop Doggy Dogg. I’ve never categorized myself, nor my art, as gothic. I really don’t understand where people get this idea that we are gothic. All one needs is to listen to our music, or take a look at us, and it’s quite obvious that we have nothing to do with that whole thing. I think it’s because Projekt has a lot of Goths that like their releases, so we mistakenly get categorized as Gothic because some Gothic people buy our music. But that’s unfair and not accurate because many kinds of people buy our music. When we play shows, most often the people I meet who are our fans are just more regular sort of people, like ourselves. I think our music falls into this area of Ambient music that borders a little with acoustic folk, pop, and more dancey groovy stuff.