I penned this review of the latest LSD release on Projekt Records for my KUCI website, but wanted to share it here, too. Especially since I designed the album art!

LSD begin the new millenium with the release of Temporal, a collection of songs spanning the 7 year history of the band. From their hauntingly beautiful acoustic beginnings to their present drum’n’bass & electronica sound, this compilation covers the entirety of Love Spirals’ career with 13 tracks culled from their master tapes. Arranged in groups of three songs from the four major periods of recording, Temporal begins at the end, with a set of remixes from the last studio album, Flux, done by Ryan last summer. 

“Alicia” is a flamenco spiced bossa nova drum’n’bass tune with lovely acoustic guitar licks provided by Rodney Rodriguez of The Von Trapps. With the remix, the vocals are downplayed, and the rhythm made stronger. Lots of ethereal pads have been added, to subsitute for the old analogy keyboards of the original. “Misunderstood” has been almost entirely revamped with exciting breakbeats and lots of fabulous moody saxophone played by Doron Orenstein of Toof. This remix is my favorite track of the album for sure.

Also included on the album are several songs from various compilations or eps, such as the heartbreaking instrumental, “Amarillo.” Ryan is a master at extracting the maximum amount of emotion with a minimal guitar melody, and this composition of acoustic, electric and ebowed guitar is a masterpiece. No vocals are needed to get his melancholic message across to the listener. “Asleep” is a near-instrumental from the period between Ever and Flux which appeared on a small-run compilation by Precipice Recordings. This early attempt at d’n’b production definitely shows the influence of Good Looking Records artists on the band’s music. For vocals, Ryan ran a sample of Suzanne backwards, lending a very strange effect to a simple, fairly upbeat track. Of course, there’s always an undertone of sadness in all LSD songs, and “Asleep” is no exception.

There’s also a live track from one of the rare performances given by the band. Simply acoustic guitar and vocals (plus plenty of reverb), this song gives you a fair idea of the magic of those early days for LSD. Taken from a group of recorded performances recently uncovered by Ryan, this is just a taste of the rumored “live album” he plans to release at some point in the future.

To fill out the ensemble, there’s a nice array of tunes culled from each release, presumably Ryan’s favorites, since he put the release together himself. All in all, Temporal is 66 bliss-filled minutes lovingly selected as a body of work as unique as the journey of Love Spirals Downwards music from then to now has been.

For those who have never heard Love Spirals Downwards before and want some band comparisons, let me offer the following: Everything But the Girl, Perfume Tree, Massive Attack, Halou, Siddal, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive.