Man oh man there were a lot of remixes to listen to this weekend! First we whittled the 4 pages worth of entries to just 32 tracks, then down to 22 tracks, and finally to 8 tracks. Now we need to hone in on just one Grand Prize Winner and 2 Runner-Ups. We feel like American Idol judges! Ryan says he’s Simon and I’m Paula, but I think I’m a bit more like Randy…
Anyway, I’m planning to unveil the final announcement by Friday, which will hopefully include our having all pertinent mixes uploaded to our SoundClick page for everyone to check out!
Interview by Isobel Geo for Fiber Online, Oct 26, 2003
ISOBEL: What changed in the Lovespirals sounds with your entrance in 1999?
ANJI: The sound was already evolving in 1998, moving towards something more jazzy and funky than previously. Ryan was working with Doron Orenstein, a trained jazz saxophonist, when I joined. Adding my jazzy and soulful vocals helped to further that evolution. As we continued to work together, my song writing style brought a more poppy edge to the music. The biggest change I brought to the band was that I encouraged a collaborative song writing technique, which had been lacking in the band up to that time.
ISOBEL: The last album was Windblown Kiss released last year, so what’s the new Lovespirals’ plans for albums, tours, or remixes?
ANJI: We’ve been writing and recording new songs ever since we finished touring for Windblown Kiss, and are about half way done with an album now. Soon we need to start preparing a new live set that includes all of these new songs. Right now we are getting together files for a remix competition using our new song “Walk Away” that PeaceLoveProductions will be putting on. We are currently seeking a label to release our next album, as well as looking into possibly doing them ourselves.
ISOBEL: Anji, and your project, Plastic Chair, how’s that going?
ANJI: Plastic Chair are going to have a track or two included on an upcoming Monolog Recordings compilation. Chuki has been searching for labels to release our first full length album, but I don’t think he’s settled on any one yet.
ISOBEL: In your opinion will new jazz be the future of electronic music?
ANJI: It seems to me that NuJazz has already been a fairly strong force in electronic music since the mid to late 90’s, though I suppose that has mainly been a UK thing. It always seems to take a few years until America catches up with them, so maybe it hasn’t really even begun here yet. What I’ve been hearing lately, though, is an insurgence of 80’s ElectroBoogie/ElectroFunk styles hitting the US labels that were previously doing Jazz/Soul/Funk inspired Electronica.
ISOBEL: Does Lovespirals has a brazilian bossa nova influence? Tom Jobim, Vincius de Moraes, Astrud Gilberto?
ANJI: I love Bossa Nova and was trying to influence Ryan to make an Astrud Gilberto type song for me to sing, but it came out a little differently… The song was “Our Nights.”
ISOBEL: Nowadays, what’s the strongest influence in the band’s sounds?
ANJI: As always, Ryan’s influenced by whatever music he’s listening to. For instance, during the writing of Windblown Kiss, he was listening a lot to Led Zeppelin, Pat Metheny, and Miles Davis. His music picked up some Jazz and Blues elements, yet we hardly sound like any of those artists. Lately he’s been listening a lot to Pink Floyd and Talk Talk. Of course, Ryan prefers to listen to music when he can focus all of his attention on it, so that isn’t very often. He likes to absorb albums slowly. I, on the other hand, tend to consume music. I’ve been listening to all kinds of stuff, but mainly music with very soulful vocals, from the 1970’s to now. Strangely, Ryan cites long boarding as being a big influence right now in his musical thinking.
ISOBEL: Are you very critical about another electronic music styles and hypes?
ANJI: I suppose we are both fairly critical of music. I think we are most critical of bands that don’t change over time, but seem to be stuck in one type of rut. We both enjoy a wide range of musical styles, including various electronic styles, rock, pop, and jazz.
ISOBEL: And are you critical about your own work?
ANJI: Sure, we’re totally critical of our work. We constantly seek to improve our skills and learn more about music. We never want to do the same thing twice, really.
ISOBEL: Who writes the songs, you or Ryan, or both? What subject always has taken in lyrics?
ANJI: We completely collaborate on all our songs. Ryan does the bulk of the music writing and performing, with input from me — particularly as far as the song structure goes. We work the songs up together, starting with either a guitar melody and vocal, or a keyboard melody and vocals. I write all of the lyrics and vocal melodies. My lyrics are generally about personal experiences, though sometimes they are imaginary. I like to write about love, primarily, but I also write about other subject matter.
ISOBEL: How can I describe Lovespirals?
ANJI: We’ve been referring to ourselves as Jazzy Electro-Acoustic Dance & Pop. That kind of covers it all. Our music is a mixture of Jazz, Soul, Blues, and Electronica with plenty of mood and melody. Sensual female vocals and beautiful guitar drive the songs, with funky keyboards and organic percussion keeping the rhythm. We’re currently dabbling in genres including Down Tempo, Deep House, NuJazz, and NuSoul, but we’ve also written in many other styles in the past, including Atmospheric Drum n Bass, Lounge, Folk Rock and more. We’re all over the board!
You can read Isobel’s Portuguese article at FiberOnline.com.
I’m starting to miss playing live again, it’s been so long. I can’t help thinking about how much more fun it would be, though, if we had more musicians to fill out the sound. A bassist would be a huge improvement, at least. It could be cool to have a keyboardist, too. Or maybe somebody who could play both, depending on the song. Like John Paul Jones, that would be nice.
In a time when albums seems to be a dying art form, and music appears to have been overtaken by inexperienced youth, this album truly stands out. It is so refreshing to hear a mature perspective on life! I loved this album when it came out 3 years ago, and it has really stood the test of time. It is unassuming, quiet, but so elegant and satisfying… just hip enough, without being cliche — and therefore open to premature aging. There are so many good tracks, and not really any bad tracks; a rarity, it seems. I would have been damned proud to have created this album, that’s for sure.
Anji Bee was interviewed by Sterben von Todsleben for Reflektionen, February 2003
STERBEN: The gothic subculture seemed to be quite fond of Love Spirals Downwards; have you noticed much backlash from them with your first Lovespirals release? Does it matter what the gothic subculture thinks?
ANJI: Surprising little, actually. Before the album came out, there were a few people on our message board making a tiny squabble, but at least one of those has turned into a hard core fan since seeing us play live and buying the album. And the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, even from Gothic sources. We didn’t really expect the kind of support we’ve received, but are happy to have it. What’s more exciting, however, is when fans of Gothic music express interest in our decidedly not-Gothic songs, many of which are available as mp3s at various sites on the Internet. Ultimately, though, we would prefer to secure a new audience for ourselves, rather than appealing to old fans of Love Spirals Downwards or Projekt Records.
STERBEN: Did you feel that there was something to prove by releasing Windblown Kiss? Was there internal or external pressure to do something removed from the traditional Love Spirals fare?
ANJI: Honestly, we were just having fun as we recorded the songs that became Windblown Kiss. We knew that what we were doing was quite different from what the two of us had done before (which was electronic dance music), but we thought some of what we were doing was fairly similar to things LSD had done before — such as “Dejame” and “Swollen Sea.” I wouldn’t say that we were trying to prove anything; we were merely trying to produce an album that wouldn’t be totally out of Projekt’s ballpark, yet was still interesting for us to create.
STERBEN: Having the album out now, and being able to hear all the reviews and comments from fans, do you look at the album and go… “Jeez we should have done this differently”?
ANJI: I guess sometimes I wish we hadn’t decided to not include songs like “Sandcastles” or “Love Survives” on the album, because it would have shown that we’re still working in electronic styles. Still, there’s a sort of Old-Timey mood that suffuses the album with these more organic rock, folk, blues and jazz pieces, and I like that. But, you know, its not like I’ve heard a single person complain that we didn’t do any electronic songs on the album.
STERBEN: Why was the decision made to include some text in languages outside of English on Windblown Kiss? Was it difficult? Could you see creating songs in the future with more language dynamics?
ANJI: Hmm… there’s kind of 2 sides to this story, I guess. On the one hand, it just kind of happened, but on the other, I suppose I was conscious of the fact that LSD had been known — rightly or not — as a multi-lingual band. I had written the poem that became “Windblown Kiss” a year or more before, and afterwards thought, “Gee, this could make a good lyric. It seems like something Ryan would work with!” But the first song we recorded in another language was actually “Dejame.” Those lyrics began with a quote from Anais Nin’s journal, and then blossomed out from there. I was inspired by the Latin flavor of the music to create Spanish lyrics; simple as that. The French part in “I Can’t See You” was just a little joke. I thought it would be cheeky to sing the last phrase in French, like some kind of late 50’s jazzy lounge singer. Those were the hardest lyrics to write, because I am not at all familiar with French. “Windblown Kiss” was the easiest, because I worked on that with a friend in Germany. I probably will do more stuff in other languages, just because it’s kind of fun. I’ve already done some work in Japanese with my friend Chukimai, for our band Plastic Chair.
STERBEN: How has the playing live experience been so far?
ANJI: Playing live has been a great experience for us. Practicing and performing has given us both the opportunity to hone our respective skills. I learned a lot about my voice in the process, and Ryan has grown much more comfortable with soloing. When he was working as LSD, he didn’t play electric guitar live, so this is a totally new thing for him! I think working with effects on stage has been an interesting challenge, as well as figuring out how to switch from rhythm guitar parts to solos and then back again.
STERBEN: Is their a distinct Lovespirals frame of mind? Are you always you, or is their a definite Lovespirals mindset?
ANJI: Ryan’s talked in the past about having to put on a “Lovespirals hat” when he goes out as a performer, but I haven’t experienced anything like that. I’m always just me, more or less. I prefer to approach the fans as friends, if at all possible. I guess it’s a bit odd when you’re surrounded by folks asking for autographs and photos, but I don’t really act or even feel differently in that situation.
STERBEN: If you could live in any time period, which would it be? What about that period of time draws you there? Do you think you’d still be making music?
ANJI: I’ve always been fascinated by the “Roaring 20’s.” I love late 20’s fashions, hairdos, art and design, architecture, and even music. I simply adore old syncopated jazz and gutbucket blues tunes! I’d definitely be one of those daring flapper girls who snuck off to black jazz clubs to dance and sing, rather than sticking around with the stuffy white folks who had no sense of rhythm or soul.
STERBEN: What should fans look forward to seeing in the next release from Lovespirals?
ANJI: I honestly don’t know what’s up for future Lovespirals releases. We have a number of electronic songs in the works, very different from both the Windblown Kiss or Ecstatic EP tunes, so we’ll have to see where we go from here.
Photos from Lovespirals Leon, Mexico show are now available on
the nightlife information site antropolitan.com. The 3 page photo album includes concert pics, backstage shots, and crew and fan photos.
Projekt has paired up with Hot Topic for a special Holiday
compilation CD. Comprised of the best tracks from the popular Excelsis series of releases, A Dark Noel includes songs
by both Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards, plus many
other Projekt favorites. This CD is sold at the budget price of $3.98 from Hot Topic stores nationwide.
Radio Reflektionen is currently hosting a streaming online radio
program assembled by Anji, called “From Dusk to
Dawn”. Featuring 4 hours of 56kbps mp3s, the show
encompasses many of Anji and Lovespirals’ musical inspirations
as well as their own music, and music by friends, peers, and
labelmates. This program will be on continuous loop for
approximately one month.
Well, we can’t import my old address book into my new email program, so I have to start it all fresh… So, anyone reading this, please be sure to pop by CONTACTS to add yourself to the list today, and I’ll make sure to add you personally to the news list! Thanks!
DJ Victoria Star of Dark Circles on KZSC Radio reviews Lovespirals’ August 21, 2002 show @ The Pound, San Francisco, CA:
San Francisco Projekt fans were given a spectacular treat last night when artists Mira and Lovespirals joined together for an evening of musical bliss at The Pound. Once again changing musical directions, Anji Bee and Ryan Lum presented their lush new sound as a taunting and swanky invitation to sing along. Taking the stage with a smile that never left her face, Anji’s vocal mastery was particularly poignant on new tracks “Oh So Long” and “Swollen Sea.”
Like its title, Windblown Kiss — the debut CD from the California duo Lovespirals — wafts from your speakers and caresses your ears with ethereal melodies, sexy voices and a timeless concoction of flamenco, bebop, soul, jazz, folk and rock.
The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Lum, the driving force behind the now-defunct ethereal folk band Love Spirals Downward, Lovespirals takes flight with the voice of singer/ songwriter Anji Bee. Her delicately sensual and sometimes breathy vocals combine with Doron Orenstein’s saxophone on opener “Oh So Long,” which sets the tone for slowly smoldering romance. Other tracks feature acoustic guitarist Sean Bowley on lead vocals, who creates a much different soundcape than Bee with his Gordon Lightfoot-meets-Bono voice. In fact, the two songs he sings often make Lovespirals sound like another band entirely.
Lovespirals is not a progressive rock band, but Lum’s proficiency on instruments ranging from six- and 12-string guitars to congas and hammered dulcimer is greater than that of many of his counterparts in so-called “progressive” bands. Windblown Kiss takes some time to sink in, its subtle genius initially getting lost in the ambience. It’s best to play this one alone at night, windows open, with candles flickering, and let your spirit drift aimlessly into the darkness.