Category Archives: Press

Sea of Tranquility Reviews Windblown Kiss

Michael Popke of seaoftranquilty.org reviewed Windblown Kiss:

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.


Chain DLK Webzine

August 2002, Chain DLK Webzine, Shaun Hamilton
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SHAUN: How did you two meet and start working on music together?

ANJI: We met a few times at different places in Los Angeles. We first started talking at a little Projekt Records party that both our bands were invited to. Then we got to know each other more through a series of appearances he made on KUCI, for both my radio show and other DJs’ shows. One afternoon he had me come over to his studio and he showed me a few new songs he was working on. One of those became the instrumental, ‘Beatitude,’ and the other eventually turned into ‘Love Survives.’

The first song he had me do vocals on was the club track, ‘Ecstatic,’ which just has a little ‘oooh ahhh’ sample. Our first song that came out on CD was a remix of “Bittersweet” for Claire Voyant, in late 1999, early 2000, I forget exactly. 1999-2000 was a very transitional time’ We weren’t totally sure where we were headed yet. Ryan was still very immersed in the DJ scene then, so the tunes we were working on were all 10-minute dance tracks — pretty unsuitable as album material. It wasn’t really until 2001 that things clicked into place for us, as far as the album goes.

SHAUN: Have you or Ryan had jazz training, and what are your musical backgrounds?

ANJI: No, neither of us has had any Jazz schooling. Our sax player, Doron, actually does have a degree in Jazz, though! Ryan’s been reading up on Jazz the last year or so. He used to joke that he’d become a Jazz guitarist after he played a year in the NBA, but now he’s already accomplished the former without getting much closer to the latter goal’ (Ha ha!) Both Ryan and I had a few lessons when we were young, but we’re mostly self-taught. He’s been playing guitar for most of his life. I think listening to a wide range of good music, and studying it to find out what makes it work, has been our best training.

SHAUN: Your work seems to revolve around the subject of love. What is your opinion on the state of love in today’s world?

ANJI: I believe that love is the most important thing in the world. Certainly nothing great can be accomplished without love as a motivating factor. Everyone is searching for love, in one way or another, and many are finding unsatisfactory substitutes in our modern world. I don’t think we can ever feel truly whole until we surrender to love ‘ not only love for another person, but for ourselves, and for the world around us, as well.

SHAUN: Any words of advice?

ANJI: Never doubt your ability to grow and improve as a human being. Don’t let negative people get you down. Pursue your dreams and live your life with joy!

Excerpt from the full interview hosted at the ChainDLK site.

Phantom Toolbooth Reviews Blisscent 1

Jason Morehead of tollbooth.org reviews the Blisscent 1 compilation featuring new Lovespirals:

However, there are no such complaints with Lovespirals’ “He Calls Me.” Formerly know as Love Spirals Downwards, Lovespirals features a new vocalist and a slightly different direction. Gone are the drum and bliss textures of Flux, instead hinting back the group’s earlier releases, such as Ardor. Spanish-tinged acoustic guitar work and light drums provide the perfect setting for Anji’s beautiful vocals. Even more interestingly, the lyrics point at the song’s more spiritual origins: “His voice is like a song/I hear the melodies/So I learn them, write them down/So I can play them/ Let them understand you are in everything we do/Show them your glory”.


Jazz Review.com, Featured Artist July 2002

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Windblown Kiss (2002)

Lee Prosser reviews Windblown Kiss for Jazz Review, July 2002

Ryan Lum and Anji Bee are Lovespirals. With a touch of soft blues and world music motifs, this entry into the smooth jazz category is a surefire hit and should appeal to a wide listening audience.

The music is refreshingly original and likeable, enjoyable in all ways. The 10 selections include “Oh So Long,” “Dejame,” “Windblown Kiss,” “Our Nights,” and “I Can’t See You,” among others.

Ryan Lum is a master of guitar, his techniques fresh and pleasant, and the sensual vocals of Anji Bee perfectly reflect the high quality of the musical compositions. Windblown Kiss is a magical listening experience, filled with sensitivity and beautiful soft jazz sounds.

Lovespirals is topnotch.

See the original review at jazzreview.com

The Women of Mp3.com

The Women of Mp3.com, Jianda Johnson

Jianda Johnson interviews Anji for a feature article on the now-defunct Women of Mp3.com Station.

JIANDA: How did you get into music, how long have you been making it, and when did you join Lovespirals?

ANJI: I’d say that I first got into music through my dad. One of my earliest memories is circling around the coffee table to “Here Comes the Sun,” when I was barely able to walk. I started singing very early, doing school productions from Pre-School on. Shortly out of High School, I got invovled with different garage bands, doing gigs, and recording 4 track demos. Strangely, I really always wanted to be a guitarist, but I’ve just never been very adept at it! I did play guitar in an industrial noise rock band for awhile, but it was a struggle for me. I played percussion in another band around that time too. It’s funny to think about those old bands now, in comparison to my work with Lovespirals. Speaking of Lovespirals, I began working with Ryan in early 1999.

JIANDA: Can you please explain the difference between Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards?

ANJI: When Ryan and I began working back in 1999 on Drum ‘n’ Bass tunes, he was in a transitional period, unsure if he wanted to make another listening album or start releasing 12’s instead. At that time, we weren’t sure if our stuff was going to be released as Love Spirals Downwards or as some kind of side project. We were just recording songs and pressing dubplates for him to spin in his DJ sets, not sending them around to labels or trying to get them released. Then I made those tracks available online through mp3.com and folks started contacting us to include stuff on compilations, so by now all of them have been released somewhere or other, which is really cool. But I digress… It’s tremendously hard to explain exactly where or how things changed between Love Spirals Downwards and Lovespirals, because it was all just a natural progression.

JIANDA: Catch us up to speed with the latest Lovespirals news — what’s new as far as your releases go?

ANJI: Our first album, “Windblown Kiss,” just came out June 18th, on Projekt Records. We’re putting together some live shows to promote it, beginning next month with 3 West Coast dates with fellow Projekt artists, Mira. We’re supposed to do a show or two in Mexico this October. Other places we are working on shows for are Los Angeles, Phoenix, and possibly Chicago. We just did our first (and second) live performance over Memorial Day weekend for ProjektFest, which was fun.

JIANDA: Do you have a songwriting routine/regimen, or do you just compose you “when the spirit moves you?” Do you and Ryan toss ideas back and forth in real rehearsal time, or take elements and play with them, layering in the writing/recording process?

ANJI: Generally, a song lyric and melody will come to me out of the blue, which I’ll capture on a little hand held tape recorder. I also write lyrics in my journal, with or without an attendant melody line. For Lovespirals, what generally happens is that Ryan will be messing around — either practicing guitar, or checking out some loops — and something will catch my attention. Oftentimes I’ll think, ‘Hey, that reminds me of that one song idea I was working on!’ so I’ll go grab my journal and start singing along. Other times I’ll just make up the lyrics right on the spot, like I did with ‘Our Nights.’ We usually jam our ideas out for awhile before beginning to record, which is when we perfect the song structure and come up with additional parts.

JIANDA: Have you been creative all your life? When did you write your first song? Piece of fiction or non-fiction?

ANJI: One of my baby dresses said “When I grow up, I want to be an artist.” I’ve always been into just about every aspect of the arts, from music to fine arts, from literature to acting, from sewing to magazine editing, and everything in between! The first song I remember composing was in Jr. High, called “West Wind.” Before that, I recall making up zany lyrics to pop songs, kind of like Weird Al. I always wrote stories, too, and illustrated them. I was the kind of kid who would get their work printed up in the school journal, newspaper, year book etc…

JIANDA: What kinds of feedback do you get from your fans? Your music has a very gentle, healing quality to it; do you get that mirrored back to you by fans?

ANJI: Fans have been great so far. People do write to tell me that my music soothes them. Some have sent me poems, or even love letters. I feel like I’ve definitely made some friends, through music.
Interviewed by Jianda Johnson for the now-defunct (but much loved) mp3.com

Gothic Paradise Reviews Windblown Kiss

Website and radio station, Gothic Paradise, announced in their latest newsletter: “Added a review and information on the debut album from the newly formed Lovespirals, featuring almost legendary, multi-talented Ryan Lum of Love Spirals Downwards fame. Combined with Anji Bee‘s musical talents and beautiful voice, they’ve managed to create a very captivating sound. Their style reflects only vaguely Ryan’s previous work with Love Spirals Downwards and takes on a more Jazzier tone with touches of Flamenco, Folk and other genres. I like to compare them to the latest release from The Cranes, dreamy and experimental and Julee Cruise, Ethereal and Jazzy. Great stuff and one of the latest releases on Projekt Records!

Here’s the full review written by Jacob Bogedahl:

I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time and it’s been well worth the wait. I, like other fans of Love Spirals Downwards wasn’t sure of what to expect with this release. I had heard a little bit about it and had a listen of “Dejame” early on before the release. Also being a fan of Julee Cruise and hearing that similarity, I knew I was going to enjoy this album.

Combining so many instruments, different guitars, various styles including Flamenco, Jazz and a bit of Ethereal, everything comes together almost perfectly. The beginning track “Oh so long” really sets the somewhat melancholic yet jazzy mood for the album. The follow-up track “Dejame” is my favorite from this work of art. The Spanish lyrics are pensive and Anji’s vocals are beautiful and thought-provoking. There are some upbeat tracks that have an overall happy mood to them such as “He Calls Me”. “Windblown Kiss” is probably the track that can most closely be compared to the more Gothic Ethereal style with the acoustic elements and the overall dreamy feeling you get while listening to it, another favorite of mine.

Some other great points about this album are the additions of saxophone by Doron Orenstein. Also, the addition of male vocals by Sean Bowley on several tracks. There are other contributions by these artists and others with the entire production, including mastering by Robert Rich. Such a combination of musical styles and instruments along with the talents of this duo is just outright innovative and enjoyable. I think a wide audience will really enjoy this album. I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 rating, not quite perfect more for my own tastes than for any flaws in the music.

See the Gothic Paradise band bio for Lovespirals at: http://www.gothicparadise.com/lovespirals.htm

Also be sure to check out Gothic Paradise’s Ethereal channel radio programming!

Upcoming Internet Radio Interview

Tom Schulte will interview Anji for the Outsight Radio Hours on Sunday August 4th. You can listen to the Outsight Radio Hours streaming live Sunday from 6 to 8 pm EST (3 to 5 PM PST) via LUVeR Underground Radio; just enter the following URL into your Real Player: http://64.23.9.139/luver/luver.ram. Outsight is also a featured archival broadcast of the Music Sojourn site and Live 365.com.

High Bias

Michael Toland reviews “Windblown Kiss”

The first word that comes to mind on hearing Lovespirals’ Windblown Kiss is sultry. Singer Anji Bee has a seductive coo in her full-bodied voice that immediately catches the ear and stirs the blood; instrumentalist Ryan Lum knows exactly how to frame it with lush guitars, tasteful keyboards and rhythms that draw from jazz and bossa nova as much as rock and pop.

An outgrowth of the Gothic dreampop band, Love Spirals Downwards, Lovespirals cast aside much of the previous incarnation’s psychedelic gloom while retaining its romantic angst. The airy arrangements and acoustic guitars put a new spin on the kind of emotional claustrophobia at which LSD was so adept.

“And it’s oh so long to wait/I lack the patience/Give me strength” Bee sighs in “Oh So Long” as she waits to be reunited with her lover; “Swollen Sea” and “I Can’t See You” also look for beauty in the pain of lost love. But Bee and Lum don’t forget joy: “Our Nights,” “He Calls Me” (which adds an overt spiritual dimension to the proceedings) and the title tune celebrate love instead of dreading it.

Interestingly, Lum and Bee invite guitarist/songwriter Sean Bowley from Eden to contribute vocals and lyrics to two cuts; the results are strong Gothic folk/pop songs, but they don’t fit with the rest of the record. Still, those songs don’t detract from an otherwise consistently beautiful treatise on romantic expression.

For fans of: the Cardigans, Cousteau, Everything But the Girl

highbias.com

MusicTap reviews "Windblown Kiss"

Matt Rowe reviews “Windblown Kiss”

Ryan Lum, the mainstay of Lovespirals (formerly Love Spirals Downwards ), is in complete control of this band and its direction. Having flitted in and out of several styles without losing its base sound, Lovespirals comes to an extravagant and pleasing approach in their newest offering, Windblown Kiss. Suzanne Perry, the band’s former chanteuse, is missed but her disappearance is forgiven by the shockingly beautiful and sultry voice of Anji Bee. Windblown Kiss is a satisfying surprise offering from a band that stands out in an ever burgeoning sea of bands for all its gorgeous song arrangements.

This release, like sugar on our tongues, is a sweet indulgence. Every song features the erotically charged vocals of Anji Bee and the slowly building tension of Ryan Lum’s jazzed up and sexy instruments. From the flamenco tones of “Dejame” to the icy hot, night summer breezed, slow drip of “Our Nights”. “Our Nights” is a remembrance piece, a nostalgic stroll through the countryside of our memories to times when love and infatuation meant a dreamy walk in the nightlights of Paris . “He Calls Me” recounts the absolute joy of love& how it clouds yet reveals the irridescence and glory of passion.

“Swollen Sea” speaks of a love that is lost to an ever growing sea of lost loves, the shimmering sadness emanating likes heat waves from a boiling sun. The sheer magnitude of the solitary, after hours, soft push and plea to betrayed love that is “I Can’t See You” with the saxophone giving voice, pleading, pleading to make the departure easier than it is. A better than five minute tune, it engulfs you into its soul and swallows you. But& if you hang on for several minutes of silence, you become refreshed with a bluesy, demo-like tune that merrily intones, “You got me feeling down, you got me feeling so blue”.

The other songs are equally blessed and imbued with the engulfment of love and the sticky displeasure of separation. Ten songs in all with a bonus track buried deep in the afterglow of “I Can’t See You”. Wait a few minutes and it will show up. There are clearly several singles on this CD. My choice? The catchy and haunting “Our Nights “. But “You Girl” and “Dejame” are blissful and are wonderful selections as well. The booklet, a tri-fold six- pager, with photos, notes, credits and lyrics is done well. The photos are perfect, the lyrics readable and the overall package a pleasant acquisition. The production on the CD is clear and well recorded.

This album gives us the gift of remembering what once was good with love and anticipation. It encourages us and gives us hope that it can be that way again. I was swept away on echoed guitar notes, carried through the ether of love and hope, deposited into the womb of affection. And on that journey, I saw slightly swaying bodies, loosely holding onto their lovers; hearts joined to the timekeeping of drums until it was all the same beat. That is the impact of this CD, a soundtrack for what drives us to fall in love, what forms every lip to whisper, to moan. I cannot wait for the next contribution from Lovespirals.

Ryan and Anji …You Rule!! (4 stars)

musictap.net

Progression Reviews Windblown Kiss

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.

All Music Guide reviews "Windblown Kiss"

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