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Reviews

Progression Reviews Windblown Kiss

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Marc Tucker reviews Windblown Kiss in Progression Issue #41

Here we have an extremely surprising duet laying out wispy, torchy, lament music based in various Jazz styles (Brazilian, mild Samba, sophisticated New Age, West Coast cool, etc.). As one would guess, given the label, there’s also a quasi-Goth vibe attached.

Anji Bee possesses a melliflously wistful voice well-bedded in wunderkind Ryan Lum’s multi-instrumentality (endless strings, keyboards, percussion, etc.). This is exactly the sort of thing futiley sought in the catalogs of Basia, Lani Hall, Kenia, and the chantueses hyped to be as laid back as they ultimately proved incapable of – Astud Gilberto being the unmatched paradigm. Lum has a perfect ear for languidity, as sensitive to nuance and atmosphere as Bee’s beautiful modulations.

Multi-tracking her was a perfect choice; other voices wouldn’t have been nearly so accomodating. I’ll be amazed if this album doesn’t start showing up on mainstream playlists. It’s the equal of the crop’s best; a great deal better than most. If you long for premium romantic music to de-stress by, while still retaining your brains, this is it.

Lyrics, Windblown Kiss

You Are The Gun

You know your city’s dirt and grime
Just confuses my mind
Doesn’t look so pretty, but I don’t care
I’m gonna move on and find some air
Right now all I can feel
The sting on my neck
The burdens don’t make it feel so free
But you bring it on home to me

I won’t run, I won’t run,
I won’t hide
I won’t run, I won’t run,
I’m gonna ride

You are the gun
That shoots it on home
You are the one
That drives it on home
Out in the night
I found my key
Out in the night
Never knew love could flow so free

I won’t run, I won’t run,
I won’t hide
I won’t run, I won’t run,
I’m gonna ride

I won’t run, I won’t run,
I won’t hide
I won’t run, I won’t run,
I’m gonna ride
I won’t run, I won’t run,
I’m gonna ride
I won’t run, I won’t run,
never again

— By Sean Bowley

Windblown Kiss

How The Thieves Ride

Oh when the dust blows
How it clouds my eyes
Oh how I wish I could see you

Oh how the thieves ride
They scream through the night
Oh how I wish I could lose them

I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna lose them
I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna leave them behind

Oh when the shells fall
And wicked men play games
Oh how I choose to refuse them

Now as the day ends
And clouds close my eyes
Oh how I wish I could see you

Oh when the thoughts bite
And drain my hollow head dry
Oh how I know I must forsake them

I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna lose them
I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna leave them behind

I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna lose them
I’ll refuse them
Then I’ll lose them
I won’t abuse them
But I’m gonna leave them behind
Behind (x3)

By Sean Bowley

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Ha ha ha!!!

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This is a funny review from a New York punk & rock n roll fansite called New York Waste:

LOVESPIRALS Windblown Kiss is a soft, gentle breeze blowing through the white curtains of your perfect house on the hill with little flowers growing all pretty in a row in a garden of soft green grass to stretch out on in those lazy days we call summer. Okay, enough, enough, I’m gonna puke! Okay, very lovely stuff. Dreamy voices floating over spanish guitar, this a huge potential in some hot European country, just keep it out of mine!

So who the heck sent them this review copy?

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Lycia

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Just joined the Lycia mailing list about a week ago and have entered into many lively chats with Tara and friends about all kinds of fun stuff. She’s kinda sad that they missed the Projekt Fest… There’s been a lot of talk about getting all the AZ Projekt bands together to do a show out there sometime, so maybe we can get either Lycia, Estraya or Tara Van Flower to make an appearance?

Anyway, if you like Lycia, too, come check out their newslist at: http://lycia.darkspire.net/

Reviews

All Music Guide reviews "Windblown Kiss"

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Ned Raggett reviews “Windblown Kiss”

When the original partnership of Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry in Love Spirals Downwards dissolved, the result was a new romantic and musical union between Lum and singer/songwriter, Anji Bee. With the band slightly renamed to indicate the difference between the new directions the duo explored, the first effort from the two was the excellent Windblown Kiss.

Advantageously, it isn’t a radical departure from Lum’s earlier work  this isn’t Mojave 3 as different from Slowdive, say  but instead a fascinating and beautiful new path that draws from his past without repeating it. It’s evident not merely in his own playing  he’s just as apt to explore moody blues licks, acoustic flamenco and bossa nova lines, as well as his trademark digital delay lushness  but the range of the songs as a whole.

Bee’s singing is key here  instead of the angelic bliss-out of Perry, her approach blends that touch with a subtly sassier tang, reflecting her love for singers like Billie Holiday. Indeed, much of the album feels like a performance at a very classy (but not dull) late-night establishment, with subtle grooves and the sense of passionate love suffusing the air. That she can manage the wonderfully romantic Spanish-language song “Dejame,” with appropriately delicate Latin pop arrangements — not to mention equally fine singing elsewhere in German and French — as well as a cover of an obscurity by America, “You Girl,” gives a good sense of her abilities.

With fine guest work from Doron Orenstein on saxophone and, in two excellent duets with Bee, “How the Thieves Ride” and “You Are the Gun,” Eden’s Sean Bowley on both vocals and guitar, Windblown Kiss adds up as an enveloping, invigorating listen that avoids any easy “Goth” tag to find its own darkly passionate medium. (4 stars)

allmusic.com

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Nice comment!

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DJ Bryan, of “The Witching Hour: on WRSU, New Jersey, was sweet enough to including this quip in his weekly playlist:

“Windblown Kiss has got to be my favorite release from Ryan Lum. Even the DJ who spins house music before my show liked what he heard. He described it as ‘seductive’.”

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside…

88.7 WRSU FM can be heard over the web at http://wrsu.rutgers.edu/

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First WK review

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Lovespirals – Windblown Kiss (Projekt): Love Spirals Downwards remove the “Downwards,” dispense with the electronic beats of Flux, and change the singer, but remain as ethereally innocuous as ever, if a bit more eclectic. — Angry Robot

Pretty much to the point, eh? I looked up “innocuous” just to make sure that there actually is a positive use for it. Ha ha!

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Back from Projektfest

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Got back from Philly last night. We enjoyed ProjektFest more than we anticipated. It was fun to hang with Audra and Mira at the after parties, and to see old pals like Roachie, Johnny, Lisa etc… There’s some talk of us doing a West Coast tour with Mira this Summer, which would be really cool! We especially hope to hit Portland and San Francisco, where we have friends and family. Keep posted to our news section for updates!