Genres, Schmenres

Sometimes I get frustrated by how much genre identity has pervaded the music world. It seems like nowadays bands are forced into taking on a genre niche to be accepted anywhere. Why can’t we just make/listen to music that we like and enjoy, without having to worry about pigeon-holing everything?

The press have always tried to stick music into boxes, for sure, and the fans have been doing it for awhile, but it feels like now even the bands themselves need to jump on some bandwagon or other to even gain label acceptance, never mind the fans or the press!

Lovespirals do not want to embrace any one genre. We are multifacted people with various music interests. Sometimes we feel upbeat and dancy, other times soulful or bluesy. Sometimes we wanna rock, sometimes we wanna groove, sometimes we wanna romance it old school jazz style. Why should we hold ourselves back?

Talk Talk

On one of our recent outings of buying used vinyl albums, we picked up Talk Talk’s album The Colour of Spring. We finally had the chance to give it a good listen the other night, and damn was it good!

For those who remember the band as just a new wave synth pop band, well, maybe that could be said of their first album or two, but they evolved a lot with each release.

The Colour of Spring is a great and very hard to classify album. It’s soulful, with hints of jazz, and quite ethereal at times. The Hammond organ is just amazing. I swear I can hear the birth of the Manchester sound coming from this record.

Next I want to pick up the album they released after this, Spirit of Eden, where they took a more stripped down, improvised approach.

Sade: Lover's Rock

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.

New album?

People are starting to ask about a new album, but we’re just not quite there yet. A new style is coalescing for us, though, which is quite exciting. We’ve been perfecting older song ideas, which I’ve found really satisfying. Now we’re starting to work on brand new material. I have a big backlog of lyrical and melodic ideas, so we just have to start putting those to music one at a time.

The newest song will be a little airier, more musically spacious, to give Ry some room to really dig into guitar work, if he likes. I kinda feel like I’ve been monopolizing the tunes recently with lyrics. Heh heh. So much for Ryan’s old credo of non meaning in his music!

Susan Jennings Online Store

Lovespirals’ semi-official photographer, Susan Jennings, recently launched an online store at IncisionCandy.com offering a plethora of pleasing images, including the landscapes used in the design of Windblown Kiss. Additional works, available in frameable prints or notecards, were featured on Projekt releases including From Across This Grey Land 3, A Day in the Stark Corner, and Ardor. Beautiful photographs, beautiful site; well worth a look!

Slow period

Things have been rather slow around here, but are slowly picking up. We’ve got a couple of compilations starting to line up, using old cuts. Someone has been talking to us about doing a show in Hawaii, which would be awesome. Percy Howard is sending me a CDR of the song he wants me to come out and sing for him. We’ve got 4 solid mixes of new tracks now, too.

Ryan’s been playing Kelly Slater Pro Surfer quite a bit, which has inspired him to get back into drum ‘n’ bass production. There’s a couple Rollerball tracks on the game that sound like a cross between our stuff from ’99 with our recent stuff. It could be fun to go back and revisit some of our old ideas updated with our new jazz knowledge.

Just wish we weren’t so busy, so we could get into the studio again! The past two weeks have been hellish.

Smash or Trash Lovespirals on TalentMatch

Lovespirals are up for the vote on TalentMatch.com’s “Smash or Trash” promotions this month. You must sign up as a member of the free entertainment site to vote, but even non-members can come view our artist page and listen to the audio files. Come on down to talentmatch.com/lovespirals to hear a Real Audio file of “Just Trouble” or a WMA mp3 of “Hand in Hand (album mix)” — both new and unreleased songs!

Back in the studio!

Happy to report that we’ve been working on music again.

The new “Love Survives” is nearly complete, and it’s actually grown quite a bit from the old version. I love the new ideas I came up with for the chorus, and Ryan’s new bridge instrumentation! It’s much funkier and light hearted this time around. Ha ha, I still remember the first time Gabe heard the demo, his response was “Pretty dark!” We’re not interested in being dark or creepy or any of that. We’d prefer to be light and happy.

So the new album seems to be shaping up pretty well. We’ve got: Hand in Hand, Love Survives, Just Trouble, Walk Away, perhaps Sandcastles — if we polish it up a bit. There’s been some other songs tossed around the past year that should work out. I’m excited.

Nada

Nothing much exciting has been going on since we got back from Mexico. I’m starting to miss performing! Our current plan is to re-record “Love Survives” in 24 bit format. I guess the song will probably come out a bit different this time, but nothing as drastic as our redo of “Hand in Hand.” We’ve got a lot of other half-formed song ideas that we’ve been working on the past year. I look forward to having the time to dedicate to diving into the studio for days and weeks on end, fleshing out and perfecting them all. It will be an exciting time. For now, though, I simply dream…

Reflektionen Interviews Anji of Lovespirals

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.

Anji Bee by Susan Jennings 2002

For the full interview, please see reflektionen.net

New Site Content

The photo section has been redesigned and updated with lots of lovely new photos including some great out-take shots from the Windblown Kiss promo photos by Susan Jennings. The interview section has been updated with new links and better content descriptions. Enjoy!

Ethereal Chillout Music