New Age Voice Profile, November 1996:
"Keeping Up With Love Spirals Downwards"
Bryan Reeseman interviews Ryan Lum


Previous L.S.D. albums have featured an ethereal, airy sound which equally
balanced the vocals, guitars, and synths. What can we expect from the new album?

Actually there's never been that much in the way of synths; perhaps there's 2
songs each on Idylls and Ardor that have synths. As far as instruments go, it's
always been more of a guitar - particularly acoustic guitar - based sound.
Ever (our new album), sort of paradoxically goes into a more stripped down
acoustic guitar and vocal sound, and a more all-electronic sampler/analog synth
and drum machine sound. I think it's an album that's next to impossible to classify
into any sort of genre or music style. As with our previous albums, it's a record
that virtually anybody who likes beauty in music will like.

How did you choose the direction for Ever?

It just sort of happens on its own. Getting new equipment and growing as a
person makes it always new and different.

Was the trip-hop mix of "Sideways Forest" a one-shot deal or can we expect
more unusual songs from L.S.D. in the future?

Unusual songs? I guess for what some people might expect of us... It felt quite
normal and fun for me to do. I don't know if I'd say it's trip-hop, but it definitely is more
off in the electronic-ambient-groove sort of direction. I'm fairly certain that our
next album after Ever will be made more like that song, with the samplers and
analog gear we have, rather than a more guitar based album again. For years,
I've wanted to do music like that, but it's been only recently that I've had
enough gear to do it.

Do you get a lot of comparisons to the Cocteau Twins? Does that grow tiring?

We used to, but it's been 2 years since our last album came out, so it's been a while
since I remember reading any reviews of us comparing us to them. We'll see if it
happens again this time. But, as time goes on, I doubt that that comparison will be
made much anymore.

Your live show has always been stripped down to you on acoustic guitar and Suzanne
on vocals. What is the reason for this? Will this continue or do you anticipate
perhaps bringing along a keyboard player and/or drummer as well?

I doubt it. We've been doing our shows all acoustic because we found that it was
the best way for us to play live. We've reduced our big studio sound down to it's
essence: voice and acoustic guitar. Really, I don't think that we'd necessarily
sound better if we were to get a drummer and more guitarists and keyboardists and
become a loud band. The way we do it now really brings out the power and the beauty
in our music, perhaps even better than our albums do. Plus, there's nowhere for us to
hide this way, so people can see that we really know how to play, which has surprised
a lot of people who thought we need lots of effects to sound good. So live, it's sort
of like we'll use no effects and sound even better than our records, at least on our
good nights I think we do.

What was the ProjektFest experience like?

We had a lot of fun doing it, particularly with the other artists and our
friends that were all there at the same time; all of us hanging out and going out
at all hours of the day and night. I was pretty tired by the end of that week.
Overall, we had a pretty good and fun performance, and the vibe we got from the
crowd was pretty good, considering the rude talking through the bands' sets that a
lot of the people there felt they had to do. Fortunately for us, they seemed to
quiet down. But, it was a little sad though, because I got the feeling that a
lot of people were certainly not there for the music, and instead came because of
some scene or whateverit was that developed around the festival.

I heard in Mexico City you played to 600 people and were highly revered. Do you think
there's more of a market for ethereal music there and in other regions of the world?

Actually it was more like 1500 people, which was by far our largest audience.
We really didn't play all that well that night though, but the crowd was so energetic
and warm,they actually helped us out to play a little better. I don't know if the
market is any better or worse there though. I can say that there's some very nice
people andfantastically delicious food to be found in Mexico. I've already returned
once since our show just to eat and visit friends and have fun.



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