Gothic Jazz?

Just came across the funniest mention of us in a Devics review online.

Slow, teary-eyed gothic jazz was an inevitability as darkwave, dream pop, and shoegazing became further and further intertwined. Lovespirals’ “Windblown Kiss” of 2002 was heralded as the style’s official birth and fulfilled the lifelong dreams of darkwave and lounge lovers like myself by blending the melancholy, ethereal vocals of the former with the breezy, slow sway of the latter.

Even though I have heard one or two other people make similar mention, I can’t get used to the idea that anyone would still think we’re Gothic, in addition to Jazz. It’s just too crazy! Why not “Dark Jazz” at least? LOL.

Ha Ha! First Ryan invents “Gothic Trip Hop” (Flux) and now “Gothic Jazz” (Windblown Kiss). I suppose next we’ll be “Gothic Soul”? No… People can’t possibly try to lump our new music in with Gothic. Can they?

Fiber Online Interviews Lovespirals

Ryan & Anji of Lovespirals, 2002
Ryan & Anji of Lovespirals, 2002

Interview by Isobel Geo for Fiber Online, Oct 26, 2003

ISOBEL: What changed in the Lovespirals sounds with your entrance in 1999?

ANJI: The sound was already evolving in 1998, moving towards something more jazzy and funky than previously. Ryan was working with Doron Orenstein, a trained jazz saxophonist, when I joined. Adding my jazzy and soulful vocals helped to further that evolution. As we continued to work together, my song writing style brought a more poppy edge to the music. The biggest change I brought to the band was that I encouraged a collaborative song writing technique, which had been lacking in the band up to that time.

ISOBEL: The last album was Windblown Kiss released last year, so what’s the new Lovespirals’ plans for albums, tours, or remixes?

ANJI: We’ve been writing and recording new songs ever since we finished touring for Windblown Kiss, and are about half way done with an album now. Soon we need to start preparing a new live set that includes all of these new songs. Right now we are getting together files for a remix competition using our new song “Walk Away” that PeaceLoveProductions will be putting on. We are currently seeking a label to release our next album, as well as looking into possibly doing them ourselves.

Continue reading Fiber Online Interviews Lovespirals

Playing live

I’m starting to miss playing live again, it’s been so long. I can’t help thinking about how much more fun it would be, though, if we had more musicians to fill out the sound. A bassist would be a huge improvement, at least. It could be cool to have a keyboardist, too. Or maybe somebody who could play both, depending on the song. Like John Paul Jones, that would be nice.

Kolo Online Music Comp.

A cool new idea in music distribution, Kolo: an independent sound library puts together online music compilations. Typically, they include hi-res 192kbps mp3 files of each song, a DJ mixed set of the material, plus downloadable artwork for the CD. After a brief hiatus this summer, they’re back with a groovy chill-out set, including Lovespirals’ “Our Nights.”

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!

Ethereal Chillout Music