Interview

Mean Streets Vol. 8, #4 (1996) [Scan, Transcript & Audio]

Article by Ned Raggett

For Ryan Lum, instrumentalist for the L.A. based duo, Love Spirals Downwards, sticking to just one means of musical expression is not an option.

“I go between making this pure acoustic music and then going into this analog synthesizer, drum machine sound, tweaking knobs and stuff — just to keep things fun! If I did the same thing for a while, I’d get burnt out!”

Combined with the truly beautiful vocals of Suzanne Perry, Lum’s work in Love Spirals Downwards is a lush, wondrous experience. The band’s third album, Ever, has just been released on Projekt, and clearly demonstrates that Lum and Perry have moved from being simply fine disciples of the Cocteau Twins school of performance to becoming distinctly intriguing artists in their own right.

For Lum, the question of influence is a tricky one, reflecting the tension between inspiration and the need to be one’s own person.

“It’s hard to say which bands listen to are my influences and which are not. I guess everything I listen to somehow gets mixed up in what I do. That’s a tough question, because I don’t know what I’m trying to get away from, or what I’m trying to be like.”

Continue reading Mean Streets Vol. 8, #4 (1996) [Scan, Transcript & Audio] →
Interview

Interview in Black Moon

Love Spirals Downwards is Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry. They are one of the bands in the line up at the Projekt Festival. They will be hitting the ethereal air waves with their unique guitar and keyboards. This is one of the bands that I can’t wait to see at the festival. – Lou

Interview by Armand Rosamilia

BLACK MOON: How is your relationship with Projekt Records and Sam Rosenthal?

RL: It’s been pretty good. We get along good.

SP: I think they’re good to us. The royalties are really good. They do a good job of promotion. We’ve been able to be friends with them too.

RL: As opposed to purely business associates.

SP: Obviously, some things are all business. They don’t just think about sales.

RL: Given that fact of life, Projekt is good to us.

SP: They’re artists too.

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Interview

El Nacional Interview

The band had a half page interview in the major national newspaper, El Nacional, for Thurs, February 29, 1996. Following is an English translation, followed by the actual article.

LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS: Music for the End of the Millennium

By XAVIER QUIRARTE

Suzanne Perry and Ryan Lum are in the music scene to enjoy the freedom of creating sounds, and they delegate the pursuit of their art to no one but themselves. Love Spirals Downwards, the creative duo that started on the principle of minimal commitment, has crystallized into two discs. Idylls and Ardor, edited by the independent US label Project, are proof of this. “Music for the end of the millennium,” dark gothic, “ethereal sounds” or “angelical,” are some of the adjectives that their work has earned.

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Interview, News

The News, Vol XLVI NO. 232, Feb 29. 1996

U.S. Avante Garde Duo To Play D.F.

By Jose Fernandez Ramos, The News Staff Reporter

Love Spirals Downwards is one of those alternative bands whose music tends to attract a cult following.

What has happened to this Los Angeles duo, featuring Suzanne Perry (vocals) and Ryan Lum (guitars, electronics), is interesting and sometimes funny.

“One time a magazine wanted to interview us because they thought we had a lot to say about LSD due to our band’s name. But when they learned we’d never tried it, they lost interest,” Perry claimed.

Although many fans attribute the duo’s music with spiritual, mystic and even healing powers, and critics have labelled their work with adjectives as diverse as “dark ethereal,” “gothic,””dream pop,” “angelic,” “Avant Garde,” “ambient,” etc., this young duo put things very simply.

“We just compose music without any specific intention,”Lum says.

Continue reading The News, Vol XLVI NO. 232, Feb 29. 1996 →
News

Band news

We’ve had lots of things happening lately including a couple of shows in Mexico City and Guadalajara. And there is a new, still untitled, album that we are almost finished recording and mixing. It should have 10 new tracks and we hope to have it released in May or June depending on how soon we finish, as well as other record label factors. Also, we will most likely be contributing new songs to Hyperium Records’ upcoming compilations Heavenly Voices 4 and Heavenly Grooves.

We haven’t even begun to think about new tours yet, but some shows may happen later this year. One show that we are scheduled to perform is at the Projekt Records festival in Chicago. It is a two evening event that will include nearly all of Projekt’s current recording line-up. We will be closing the first night on June 25.

For more information on this, call the Projekt info-line at (312) 491-0108 or check out http://charlotte.acns.nwu.edu/arielr/projekt on the internet (the current site, but soon to be moving Projekt web site).

(taken from the band’s official mail list)

News

News Update

Sorry it’s been awhile since our last update. We’ve been very busy with many different things, one of which was our short ‘tour’. After a show in Seattle last Spring, we did a 3-show tour in August and September of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, followed by a show in Los Angeles. Many thanks to Pat Ogle at Projekt for making that happen! Being a studio-band and not having played live before, much to our surprise we had a great time doing these shows. It was especially nice to be able to meet some of you who write us! We hope to do more next year. And, we are tentatively set for doing one last show this year in Los Angeles again at the Troubadour on December 16.

Also, we are in the middle of recording and mixing a new album (still untitled), which will hopefully be released in the Spring of ’96 depending on when we finish. In the meantime, we released a new track, a cover of ‘Welcome Christmas from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. on the new Projekt holiday CD called Excelsis.

‘Excelsis: A dark noel’ various artist compilation on Projekt Records

I also wanted to let you know that there’s a decent mailing list called ‘4AD-L’. In addition to bands on its namesake 4AD, other related music such as ourselves and a few other Projekt artists are often discussed and reviewed. To subscribe, send email to 4ad-l@listserv.american.edu, and type “subscribe 4AD-L” . We will try to post new information regarding our shows and releases in their News section.

(taken from the band’s official mail list)

Interview

Big O Interview

Projekt sent over a press clipping of our interview. It reads:

LOVE SPIRAL DOWNWARDS

“Reaching into the heart of the matter” by Zulkifli Othman

Love Spiral Downwards are just one of those bands that make music that transcends, well, music. Like Dead Can Dance or the Cocteau Twins, their sound reaches inside human feelings, a sound that has become a trademark for all bands on the Projekt label. The American duo of Suzanne Perry and Ryas Lum create a sincere innovation in lush and expressive visions. What follows was due to be a straight question and answer format, but it was anything but a simple yes-and-no affair.

Zulkifli Othman: Is there another aspect of the band we should know, because your music is a stimulation of feelings? The ultimate mood music, if you will.

Ryan Lum: Well, I don’t know about the “ultimate” mood music, but yes, I see our music as a kind of music that stimulates feelings and is often moody.  What I think is unique about our music is that we give it a direction to which the listener is very free to take it where they are led by their own mind.  It’s kind of an escapist thing.

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Review

Muse Magazine Reviews Troubadour Show

The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA September 21, 1995:

The L.A. based duo, Love Spirals Downwards, create soundscapes layered with soothingly airy keyboards, acoustic guitar arpeggios, and ethereal female vocals. In a rare appearance at the Troubadour, Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry stripped their music to its essentials: an amplified Ovation acoustic guitar, a haunting voice, and one beautiful melody after another. The rapt Troubadour audience responded enthusiastically to the pair, who present their music with the seriousness it deserves, but who entertain with humorously casual banter and interplay with the crowd between songs. 

— John Koenig, Muse Magazine

Review

Underscope Reviews Troubadour Show

The Troubadour, West Lost Angeles, September 21, 1995 

“One of the darlings of the innovating Projekt label, Love Spirals Downwards consists  of only 2 members. Given the swirling, multi-tracked ambience of their records, one  might expect their live show to have difficulty living up to such studio magic, even  with a requisite backing tape. But LSD took to the stage with only one instrument:  Ryan Lum’s six-stringed acoustic guitar. As they began, Suzanne’s angelic voice  floated out over the hushed audience. Trust me, no backing tape was needed. Stripped  down to this bare essence of chiming guitar and dazzling voice, LSD’s songs burned  with a raw, ethereal brilliance. Anyone who narrow-mindedly accuses them of being  simply studio musicians needs to be taken out back and whupped good. The set’s highlights included the lovely “Will You Fade” and “Write in Water,” taken from their latest  record Ardor. The audience showered them with wild acclaim after each songs, and  left fashionably disappointed when LSD ran out of songs to play.” 

— H. Aaron Ripes, UnderScope Magazine