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Cadence Revolution reviews Long Way From Home

Long Way From Home (2007)
Long Way From Home (2007)

Cadence Revolution reviews Long Way From Home, 10/27/2007

It’s very rare these days to come across an entire CD which you will listen to over and over from beginning to the end non-stop, and even rarer to find one which makes you want to grab everyone you know and tell them “you must listen to this.”

However such is the case with the third release, Long Way Home, from the California-based duo Lovespirals, consisting of Anji Bee on vocals and Ryan Lum on instruments.

Fusing sounds from jazz, chill, folk, Americana and even a touch of country, this latest release will grab you and wrap you in an aural blanket of warm with a soothing hand on the brow that shows off why the indie music scene is our salvation from the commercial corporate music machine, and Lovespirals is one of it’s shinning stars.

From the opening jazzy/country sound of the aptly named “Caught In The Groove”, to the groovy feel of “This Truth”, to the lazy summer afternoon feeling of “Sundrenched” this CD is a wonderful blend of vocals and music coming together in an intertwining dance of harmony deftly expressing emotions in both delivery and composition.

Perhaps the one track that shows off their ability to combine emotion with production is the track “Motherless Child”, which had been released as a remix by MoShang on his Asian Variations CD earlier this year. On the Long Way Home version, Lovespirals have gone with a less-is-more approach and stripped the song down to the barest and starkest in this presentation.

Anji’s emotion-filled delivery holds nothing back in delivering the full emotion of grief and loss. While Ryan’s haunting and simple layered guitar work echoes her delivery, but neither overpowers the other, and the two come together to powerfully capture the feeling of being alone and isolated.

Throughout Long Way Home, the duo convey a wide range of feelings and emotions as words and music come together or swirl around and through each other in a mesmerizing dance of audio.

Lovespirals have found the perfect balance, resulting in a release that never falters from one track to the next that is rare these days, and is the perfect aural vacation everyone should take at least once a day.

View the original post at Cadence Revolution

Lovespirals' "Long Way From Home" Released Today

Thank you to everybody who pre-ordered the new CD. Today we officially release Lovespirals’ third album, Long Way From Home. So if you haven’t ordered it yet, now is the time do to so from our webstore – and get the “Motherless Child” remix EP digital download FREE!

And just a reminder that we’ll be appearing at a listening party for the new album in Second Life on the PodShow Island Podcast Premier Stage this evening at 7pm PST (also Second Life time). See you there!

Caught in the Groove

Only so many ways one
Can play that same ole damn song
Only so many phrasings and so many tunings
Before the whole thing just sounds wrong

Have we reached the end of the record?
Is the needle just caught in the groove?
But I’m too tired to get up
I’m too tired to pick up and move

Tell me, what am I to do?

Only so many ways one
Can say those old words “good bye”
Only so many phrasings and so many gestures
Before you just break down and cry

Have we reached the end of the record?
Is the needle just caught in the groove?
But we’re too tired to get up
We’re too tired to pick up and move

Tell me whatcha gonna do?
Hey hey
Hey now, whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do?

— By Anji Bee (BMI)

Ryan Lum on MySpace

I don’t always do things in the right order. I have pages on facebook, ziki, and linkeIn to name a few. But just today, I created my personal myspace page. I’m not sure exactly what i’m going to do with it as I have myspace pages for Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards. But it’s a start and at least I’m the first and only Ryan Lum who has my myspace address www.myspace.com/ryanlum. Anyways, feel free to drop by and add me as a friend. I currently have zero after I deleted the default Tom dude.

Lovespirals' new album is mastered!

Anji and I spent this past weekend mastering our upcoming album, Long Way From Home, with Robert Rich in his studio in Mountain View, California. In addition to all the great locally grown food and wine we were treated to and the fun time we had hanging with Robert, the mastering came out really well. I mean really well. I can’t believe how nice it all sounds. This is quite exciting as mastering for me in the past has been primarily about trying to deal with audio deficiencies that were in my original mixes. I guess I’ve gotten better over the years, as there were very few such issues. Instead, Robert was able to focus on perfecting the sound, which he did an amazing job of. Thank you Robert (if you happen to read this)!

Ryan Lum & Robert Rich Anji Bee & Robert Rich

Apple iDay

Even here, in the somewhat technologically backward Long Beach California, there was a queue of about 20 people at our main AT&T store. I should point out that even though this is the 5’th largest city in California, there are no Apple stores within 20 miles. That alone should prove my point of us being a little behind here. So that’s why people were forced to line up in front of the AT&T store. Since the line wasn’t too bad, I was extremely tempted to take a spot in line. However, while shopping in the Rite-aid just minutes before, I heard an old James Taylor song, reminding me that I need a Martin dx1 acoustic guitar much more than I need an iPhone.

Hot Hot Hot

Man today was a scorcher! Here in Long Beach, less than a mile from the ocean, it was well over 90. I read that even San Francsico was in the 90’s. I’m a little scared that this may be an indicator of what this summer may bring. Last summer, particularly July, was the worst. Around 3 in the afternoon, my shade protected house would get way too hot to bear then. I’d take refuge in a movie theater or bookstore. It was next to impossible to get any music done. Music gear gets too hot and can overheat, unless you have air conditioning which most buildings here do not have since the weather here has been mild for most of its history. Climate change is real. Today when it became too hot, Anji and I had some pie and ice cream at a local pie centric restaurant, all of which had a positive chilling effect. The weather should get back to closer to normal over the next few days; more reason to get our album completed, which it pretty much is.

Apple iPhone

i watched the macworld keynote on my computer and saw the new iPhone demonstration by steve jobs. a video ipod, cell phone, and portable computer all in one; what a damn cool idea. i’m not sure if i’ll be an early adopter and get one when they’re released later this year. however, if this is the way things are headed, then i’m excited. having google and google maps at my fingertips is something that i’ve wanted for years. ever been out somewhere and had to call a friend to do a google search to find some info for you? maybe i’m just weird, but i have. plus for doing shows, i often bring a laptop with me for additional music support; backing tracks and such. the iPhone will be be able to handle that with ease. i’ll be keeping my eye on this and see how it plays out over the next months and years.

Chillin’ with Lovespirals #28: Booze Cherries


Anji and Ryan sit down for their final episode of the year! Topics include Anji joining the Sirius Stars 102 show lineup, embarrassing moments on iLike, the Podsafe Music Network, fan feedback, Anji’s new Show Girls podcast, Lovespirals’s first living room concert, and more! We share a clip of Ryan’s 1999 recording of “Little Drummer Boy” featuring his previous singer, Suzanne Perry.

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