Love Spirals Downwards

Love Spirals Downward, often shortened to LSD, came together in Los Angeles in 1991 after guitarist, keyboardist, and composer Ryan Lum invited Suzanne Perry to lay down vocals across tracks he had already composed. Encouraging outcomes prompted a demo recording, and the pair issued their debut album, Idylls, on the ethereal Projekt label by the close of 1992. Although the record carried a pronounced Cocteau Twins atmosphere, Perry’s singular vocal approach and the project’s dreamier, folksier leanings set it apart, qualities that grew more pronounced across later releases as LSD sharpened its own identity by gradually removing effects and shifting toward acoustic foundations. Their occasional North American performances reflected this direction, with Lum typically playing acoustic guitar while Perry sang. Experimentation with contemporary electronica also surfaced, most notably in an ethereal drum’n’bass piece presented at the 1997 Projekt Festival in Chicago. Flux appeared the following year. Across their career the duo retained loyal support within goth circles, though listeners extended well beyond that scene. Ethereal folk captures their sound most accurately, since neither their visual presentation nor overall tone aligned with gothic conventions, even if a sporadic melancholic quality accounted for the lingering association. Entering the new millennium, Lum launched the Lovespirals project featuring singer/songwriter Anji Bee, which delivered Windblown Kiss in summer 2002.