Love Spirals Downwards

Love Spirals Downwards was begun in the late 1980's[1] by multi-instrumentalist Ryan Lum.[2] Lum initially worked with several different vocalists including Kristen Perry,[3] who co-wrote a demo version of the song "Kykeon."[4] Hearing these early cassette recordings while studying abroad in London,[5] Kristen's sister and Lum's then-girlfriend Suzanne[6] decided she wanted to try out for the band when she returned to America.[7] At that time Lum was pursuing a philosophy degree,[8] while Perry was in a masters program for psychology.[9] In January 1991[10] as Lum recounted, Perry “just started singing one night” while he was “jamming something that became the song “Forgo” and it sounded cool, so we carried it out and found out that we worked together nicely.”[11]

In the summer of 1991 the newly formed duo sent a demo tape with their first three songs "Forgo," "Mediterannea," and "Dead Language" to 4AD, Creation Records, and indie label Projekt Records[12][13] Pressed to come up with a band name for their demo tape, the duo initially though to call themselves Love Spirals Upwards,[14] but upon the advice of a friend they changed "Upwards" to "Downwards" to better fit the band's genre[15] as well as to avoid a connection to Louisiana State University.[16] Over its 8-year history with Projekt Records, Love Spirals Downwards released four full-length albums, a career retrospective and a CD single, selling (by their own account) in excess of 40,000 albums.[17] They were also included on over two dozen various artist compilations,[18] including the Heavenly Voices series released by the German label Hyperium Records.

Kristen Perry returned to collaborate with Lum on two tracks for the 1998 album, Flux. One of her songs, "Psyche," was used on episode No. 501 of Dawson's Creek, originally airing on October 10, 2001. This episode was included on the Season 5 DVD set.[19]

Jennifer Wilde (then working under her maiden name, Jennifer Ryan Fuller) performed as a guest vocalist and lyricist on two tracks for Love Spirals Downwards' 1994 second release, Ardor. Her vocals on one of these songs, "Sunset Bell," were reused for a new version of the song four years later on the band's final studio album, Flux. Wilde went on to form her own band, Liquid State, in January 2006[20] and is currently performing in the band Sword Tongue.[21]

Although the band never officially broke up, in 1999, Lum began releasing music under the shortened moniker Lovespirals, featuring new vocal collaborator Anji Bee. In January 2000, career retrospective CD Temporal was released by Projekt, including new remixes of songs from Flux and promotional materials that seemed to indicate the band was still active.[22]

Soon after, Projekt announced that Perry would release an EP under the band name Melodyguild in 2003. The release was pushed back several times before disappearing from the label's website, although Projekt did release a label sampler CD in December 2006 with a Melodyguild song.

Idylls and Ardor were reissued in 2007 in remastered editions with extra tracks.[23]

In June 2008, Perry returned with her first body of work in almost a decade, under the Melodyguild moniker. The quartet released the four-track EP Aitu via Projekt Records.[24]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Love Spirals Downwards.

• Official website
• Love Spirals Downwards at AllMusic
• Band Page on the Projekt Records site
• Discogs band page