The following is a transcription of Lovespirals November 9, 2002 interview Iohann Rashi from Frequenicas Alternas airing on Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico stations WRTU 89.7 FM and WRUO 88.3 FM. The questions of the DJ been translated from Spanish to English. Apologies for how rough they are.

Lovespirals is a group that has had a long history and is currently in a process of transformation, formerly known as Love Spirals Downwards. They face a new change, a new facet and new perspectives in their way of creating and producing music. For tonight, listening to the cuts of the album ‘Windblown Kiss,’ we will have Ryan Lum and Anji Bee, the members of Lovespirals, talking to us about this new creation. We will listen to Anji Bee, commenting in a brief and summarized form the historical process that Lovespirals has suffered from Love Spirals Downwards to today with this new production, ‘Windblown Kiss.’

ANJI: Let’s see, Lovespirals first started, I guess, in 1999. Ryan had started working on some solo material with the saxophone player, Doron Orenstein, who appears on our album, ‘Windblown Kiss.’ He was working on some drum and bass club songs. He and I had met through KUCI when I interviewed him for the album ‘Flux’ –I think I also interviewed him somewhat after ‘Ever’ came out– and we kept bumping into each other at different events around L.A. and we had a lot in common. I dunno, somehow he invited me into his studio to show me some of the music he was working on, such as a song called “Beatitude,” which is an instrumental, and the song that later became “Love Survives.” So he played me two tracks and we just kinda started talking about the possibility of me singing on some of his new tracks.

GothGirl blog interviews Ryan and Anji about the new Lovespirals’ album Windblown Kiss, and their recent tour.

GG: How does ‘Windblown Kiss’ fit into your discography?

RYAN: It’s hard to pinpoint. I just see it as a new album, with a new kind of sound. But that’s something I’ve always tried to do with every album; not copy what I’ve done before but, instead, try to push through to a new place that I’ve never been to.

GG: Has this new album redefined you as a band?

ANJI: I suppose the album has probably redefined us in many ways in the eyes of fans and critics. The array of commentary on ‘Windblown Kiss’ is really diverse, with everyone seemingly of a different opinion as to our genre and/or sound. Some people haven’t heard any of the earlier material that Ryan and I recorded, so their comparisons are to Love Spirals Downwards’ prior albums. Of course, people see LSD in many different ways, depending on which of the albums they’ve heard… What genre was LSD? Were they Goth? Electronica? Ambient? rock? Folk? Who knows? The same exact thing could be said of Lovespirals. We did some drum and bass and downtempo music, then we did some folk/rock/jazz whatever music. Now we’re doing something else. The band is too changeable for strict genre definitions. We just follow our bliss, wherever it may take us.

The following is a transcript of our recent in-studio radio interview at KPSU 1450 AM in Portland, OR.

“A STRANGE CHOICE OF FAVORITES” WITH DJ CAROLEE

DJ CAROLEE: We’re talking with Anji Bee and Ryan Lum, a project recording artist, Love Spirals. As a member of the audience for your Portland show, I have to say one of the songs that I really loved the most… you did a cover of a Billie Holiday tune?
ANJI: Oh no, that was actually our own song.
DJ CAROLEE: It was.
ANJI: It’s just inspired by the music such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
DJ CAROLEE: Oh you’re kidding! I was telling someone at work today, “Oh, they sound like Billie Holliday.” Or “She sounds like Billie Holliday.”
ANJI: That’s right, I mentioned, I don’t know why, like, “You know, like Billie Holliday,” just to put it out there what kind of jazz it was, as opposed to smooth jazz… Kenny G.
RYAN: Like they wrote in the paper about us. [Referencing the Willamette Weekly article]
ANJI: I was like, “No. It’s bebop jazz! This is the good stuff.” (Laughs)
DJ CAROLEE: Yeah, it’s true. It’s interesting that kind of reaction, the Kenny G. jazz reaction is coming out.
RYAN: He was the only one who said it so far.
ANJI: He must not have heard it, is all I can figure out.
DJ CAROLEE: Yeah, I’ve gotta wonder. ‘Cause that song, to me, that was an amazing moment. I mean, first of all, because I think you made a comment during the show about performing that to a gothic audience? At the same time, I really felt like it was perfect for the audience.
ANJI: Great.