‘Free & Easy’ — our first independently released CD album— dropped 20 years ago today!

There are so many stories I could share, but let’s start at the beginning.

The first time I heard the demo of “Love Survives” was in Ryan’s home studio, the very first time he invited me over. He had mentioned in an interview on my radio show that he was starting some new music after the release of ‘Flux’ — pieces he wasn’t sure would have vocals, or even be part of Love Spirals Downwards.

Collaborating with a few local musicians, this new material leaned in a jazzier — even funkier — direction. Though still more of a sketch than a song, I knew it was something special.

Ryan had built the track around a live drum recording by James Moran from Closedown, whom he’d worked with earlier as a producer. He paired that with some vibey Rhodes piano by Gabriel D. Vine. In both cases, Ryan chopped up the performances and used them as samples, continuing to explore the modern digital production techniques he’d begun experimenting with on ‘Flux.’ The result fell somewhere between trip hop and downtempo — organic in feel despite its computer-driven creation.

A computer crash sadly wiped out the project (along with several other drum ’n’ bass tracks we’d made together), so when we revisited “Love Survives” later, we had to reconstruct it from archived recordings of those drum and keyboard sessions.

Our first completed version was released online via mp3.com in 2001, where it received a lot of love. We ultimately decided not to include “Love Survives” on our 2002 album ‘Windblown Kiss’ because it leaned more electronic than the rest of the album and stuck out.

However, we brought it back for our next release, ‘Free & Easy,’ with brand new vocals and updated chorus and bridge ideas. By then we’d moved into a new space, rebuilt our studio, and had more experience working together — all of which shines through in the final mix.

“Love Survives” holds a special place in my heart, with its long and complicated history, so it feels only fitting to share it again on this momentous occasion.