Anji Bee, of The Chillcast, has just dropped her debut solo album, ‘Love Me Leave Me,’ featuring a mix of old and new songs recorded and produced over 3 years in her home studio. Though Bee has released 4 albums, 6 eps and numerous singles with her So Cal duo, Lovespirals, she’s still found the creative energy to collaborate on dozens of songs with artists such as Berlin club sweetheart, Bloody Mary, Parisian poptronica chanteuse Beth Hirsch, and Chilean trance producer, Aerotek, over the past decade.
“I love working with producers internationally via the Internet, but often feel my vocals could have been pushed further had we been in the studio together,” says Bee of her collaborative work. “After we released the last Lovespirals album [‘Future Past‘ released on Bee’s own label, Chillcuts, in 2010], Ryan suggested we put together an EP of fresh reworkings of some of my favorite Internet collaborations.” Bee is referring to her long time producer/partner, Ryan Lum, who originally formed their band as Love Spirals Downwards in 1991 and sold over 50,000 albums as one of Projekt Records most successful acts. Lum brings a lushness to the material that helps tie the songs together, regardless of genre. “There was a surprising flow to the recording sessions and the tracks were turning out so amazing that I was inspired to write several new compositions with Anji,” admits Lum.
The 11 tracks on ‘Love Me Leave Me’ flow between deep house, trip hop, and world influenced poptronica, exploring every aspect of love; desire, satiation, longing, disillusion, and contentment, expressed at the peak of Bee’s abilities. “Its funny to listen back to the original recordings of songs like “Love Me Leave Me” and “Perfect Boy” [originally released by Canadian act, Bitstream Dream, in the early to mid 2000s], because they sound like demos compared to the album versions. I’ve grown so much as an artist over the decade.” Not only has her vocal ability improved, but her recording techniques. “In the early stages of production, we listened to some of the best female voice recordings I could find – Karen Carpenter, Fleetwood Mac, Sheryl Crow, Sade – for inspiration in getting her vocals to sound better than ever,” recounts Lum.
Following a low key album fundraiser initiative which urged fans to contribute what they wanted while buying their pick of 5 remix singles of the title track released over several months earlier this year, Bee pre-released the album for her Bandcamp fans. The ultra limited edition eco-friendly CD of ‘Love Me Leave Me’ and sexy full color 11×17 poster began selling moments after the page went live. Both the physical CD and digital download come with a digital-only bonus track, called “Just One Word,” as well as a 3-page digital booklet with 3 additional boudoir portraits of Bee by erotic photographer, Aga Furtak, plus the album lyrics and credits. Bandcamp offers 2 gift sets, both of which include a copy of ‘The Chillcast with Anji Bee Presents: 5 Years of Chillin‘ compilation on CD. The Holiday Gift Set also includes all 4 Lovespirals albums on CD, plus the 2012 Projekt Records holiday compilation, Ornamental, which is the only way to purchase the Lovespirals dream pop version of Bee’s original song, “Happy Holidays.”
‘Love Me Leave Me’ is also available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and other digital retailers.