Q&A: Being In Love Sounds Like Love Spells
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
IF YOU GOOGLE “LOVE SPELLS”—you’ll find tips for polishing up your witchcraft. But if you search “Love Spells” on Spotify, you’ll find a romantic artist who takes a gentle approach to music.
With a surge of new listeners in 2024, it’s evident that Love Spells is finding like-minded people who make the choice to romanticize life and revel in the beauty of love, with all its joy and all its ache. It was recently announced that he will be joining Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory on their 2025 North American tour, which is a significant moment in his career where he will continue nurturing intimate connections with his listeners.
Love Spells released his latest single, “With Only Your Mouth,” on December 6. “I’ve been sitting on the song for a bit now,” he told me over a call. “I’m excited to get it out there. I get very impatient with releasing things but this time, I had to wait a few months.”
The song is atmospheric, similar to previous releases including “Obsessed With Your Mind” and “Come Over And Love Me.” At the center of the latest song and all others is Love Spells’ delicate vocals, almost fragile, which he stresses as essential for communicating the sensitivity of being in love. Through this tone, he creates a specific mood that is unique to his discography.
Love Spells joined our call from his home base in Houston where he returned after time spent in Los Angeles. The new release is about a relationship he experienced while living in LA, which is also the city where he started “writing poems and turning them into songs.”
“I used to write songs as songs, but now I’m starting to explore poetry and turning those into lyrics or the entire song,” he shared about the origin of “With Only Your Mouth.”
Through the collaboration between tender guitar that progresses to gruffness and Love Spells’ lulling vocals, “With Only Your Mouth” sounds like a daydream.
“This one is particularly special to me,” he described. “I’m excited to see how other people are going to relate to it, what they’re gonna feel from it, and what they’re going to use it for.”
Read my conversation with Love Spells below on his use of the glockenspiel in “With Only Your Mouth,” musical influences, and how his understanding of love changes as he evolves in his artistry.
LUNA: “With Only Your Mouth” is produced by Alex Craig. Tell me about that collaboration and how the song came to be.
LOVE SPELLS: With this specific song, I know some people are going to notice the tones of The Sundays in it. When I first met Alex, I remember it was such a hot day outside. It was horrible. We came inside and started talking about what I was listening to and what I was drawing inspiration from. I was never a big Radiohead fan, but when I moved to LA, I started relating to [their music] on a deeper level. I’ve always listened to The Sundays, but it was also the same case there. I guess exploring those sorts of scenarios within the specific music more.
So, we talked about that for a while. The vibe of that conversation shifted over into us recording. I’d been really tied to acoustic guitars and at that time, I was like, “Maybe I should stray away from that and try something more electric.” I’m a horrible guitar player. If anything, I'll be playing bass [laughs]. I was like [to Alex,] “Okay, you should take that over and I’ll try to aid you in other ways I can.” I’m also a really horrible producer, contrary to popular belief. While I’m in Houston, I’ve been trying to just lock in on actually getting a lot better at that. I have so many different ideas and waiting to get in with a producer to express your ideas is actually the worst. It’s almost like a form of torture. My voice notes are filled with so many different things.
So, we started making “With Only Your Mouth” purely going off the vibes of how certain music that I started listening to when I came to LA made me feel. We also talked about this girl I was seeing during that time, and that shaped up into the song.
LUNA: I love the double meaning you could take from the title “With Only Your Mouth.” There’s a sensual quality, but it also implies the words we use—language connection.
LOVE SPELLS: I’m glad because that was [the intention]. I wanted it to be intimate. I try to do that with a lot of my titles. Especially with the song, the entire experience that I was talking about was very intimate in itself.
LUNA: Toward the end of the song, we hear a distorted guitar solo with chimes. Those two elements are the opposite of each other: the rougher guitar sound followed by that softness. Tell me about the choice to end the song that way.
LOVE SPELLS: That’s one of my favorite parts. In a lot of the newer music I’ve been making, I dove into the glockenspiel which is that chime noise. It’s so nice and pleasant on the ears. It feels very cute and hopeful. In contrast to the distorted guitar, it fits so well because it’s like that constant sound of the guitar over the light chimes you hear in the background. It creates such a vibe for me. It feels exactly how you think the song title would feel, if that makes sense. That’s honestly my favorite part of the song.
LUNA: Something I love in your catalogue is that, thematically, your releases cover shades of love. “Lie” is about someone unfaithful while “Obsessed With Your Mind” touches on what’s beneath the surface level. What is this new song saying about love?
LOVE SPELLS: There was this woman I was involved with while I was living in LA. I think it was one of those experiences that come and go, but teach you a lot. It was probably one of the most intimate and conscious relationships I’ve ever been in. I already knew the importance of intimacy, but I guess you could say I didn’t understand it in the way she made me realize.
There were times she’d come over, and we often spent time in silence—just sharing space, exchanging glances, and enjoying the quiet. It was an amazing dynamic, but there was also a stretch of time when we didn’t have any physical contact. For a while, there wasn’t even a handshake or a moment of holding hands. It was a unique experience, one that felt different from the usual progression of getting to know someone.
After a certain period passed, when physical intimacy finally began, it felt incredibly special. The title “With Only Your Mouth” captures how that first kiss made me feel. That moment wasn’t just a one-time experience—it carried the same depth and intimacy every time. Each kiss felt as powerful and meaningful as the first, over and over again. This song explores that connection and the way it transcended words or touch, becoming something extraordinary.
LUNA: Since you first started releasing music with this intention of writing about love, has your musical journey helped you learn new things about love?
LOVE SPELLS: For sure. I never really explored that new level of intimacy until now and I think I’ll continue to. Different phases of life open up different opportunities. I’m not 30, I’m not 40, I’m not 50 yet. I think with age, those things bring new experiences and new phases of being in love with someone. Now I’m in my 20s, so love feels different than love when I’m going to be 70. I think I’ll always be learning new things as everyone is. There isn’t going to be a time when I know what it’s going to be like for me. All I can know is how I want it to be and how and what I need to do to make it as pure as possible.
LUNA: In the song, we hear your signature soft vocals. They’re very sweet and always intentional. Because you have such a specific style in your vocals, what part do they play in the process of creating a song? Do vocals ever take priority over other elements of the process? If they’re not working, does something else have to change?
LOVE SPELLS: Actually, every time I record a song, it’s always around my vocals. I dislike when I’m recording with someone and my vocals are pitched up. I’m like, “Dude, you don’t even need to do that.”
It’s vulnerable to me as well. Especially being a guy and singing the way that I do, it feels very vulnerable because of the soft, high-pitched tone that I convey in a very feminine way, almost on purpose. A lot of people do. There are times when Michael Jackson has done it. There are times when Prince has. I love Prince. I’ve been listening to so much Prince lately. I never really explored his music but now that I am, I can hear that same tone in his voice. So many of the songs, his pitch is so high. It’s like he does it on purpose in a feminine way because that’s just the best way to convey it.
When I’m recording songs and I need to get a certain feeling across, if I can’t sing it in the way that I need to, then I’m going to change the lyrics. I’ll change the entire instrumental before I compromise how I convey things. The most important part about my music is the way that I can convey a certain emotion over lyrics and have them all tie together.
LUNA: Did your vocal tone take time to discover?
LOVE SPELLS: I didn’t even explore singing until like three years ago. It’s pretty recent. I started out singing normally. My first-ever song isn’t anything like what I’m making now. It’s very ambient and edgy. But I didn’t realize I could do [a softer tone] until I started listening to [different music.] I was your average 17-year-old guy, but there was one point in my life where I started unpacking my emotions differently. I turned to music in that sense. I wasn’t very aware of too many artists. I know that a lot of male artists, of course, can tune into deep emotions just as well as female artists—but I was 17. So, I was like, “Dudes don’t do that. I’m going to listen to girls.” I started listening to Clairo and beabadoobee. I loved the way they floated over their songs with their high and feminine, beautiful voices. The first time I heard Mazzy Star, I think it changed my life.
LUNA: Your music is the type of music people turn to in their own lovesickness or in their heartbreak. When they share the experiences they’ve had with your music, what value does that hold for you?
LOVE SPELLS: Honestly, I think that’s the entire point of my music. It’s to be used in those moments and intimate settings. It doesn’t matter what you do. You could be cooking in the kitchen and playing it. I had a friend tell me that they were walking on the beach and listening to my music. It makes me so happy when people tell me.
This one, I never forgot. Someone said they were listening to my song in the car and they had their first kiss at that moment. That’s what it’s supposed to be. I want my music to be used in that way and that’s what I make it for.
