Portland ambient and drone composer Eric Angelo Bessel has released “Pathways“, the opening track and first single from his third solo album “Illusion of an Inland Ocean”. The instrumental record arrives on October 30, 2026 on his own Lore City Music as a double LP on mystery-coloured vinyl and as a digital album, with eighteen tracks. “Pathways” came out on August 25, 2026 with an official video and is downloadable now with a pre-order.

Bessel wrote, recorded, mixed and produced the album himself. Jason Powers contributed additional production and Carl Saff mastered it at Saff Mastering in Chicago. Bessel also shot and designed the artwork, with additional photography production by Still River Editions. Lore City Music describes the record as one that “invites listeners to wander, following recurring landmarks as they gradually reveal unexpected connections beneath the surface of the ordinary world”.

The eighteen tracks on ‘Illusion of an Inland Ocean’

The running order is “Pathways”, “Book of Astrology”, “Cistern”, “Floodlight on the Beach”, “After 8 PM”, “January”, “Indiana”, “Mona”, “Near Miss”, “Illusion of Depth”, “Moss”, “Downed Power Line”, “It Wasn’t Always This Way”, “Chapter”, “Microplastics”, “Inground Pool”, “Seagull” and “Looking”. Nothing on the record carries a vocal. A vinyl bundle pairs the double LP with the “Mirror at Night” LP, the “Mirror at Night B-Sides” 7-inch and “Visitation”.

Bessel builds these pieces from a pair of digital Mellotrons, an Alesis Micron synthesizer and guitars kept low in the mix, then runs the results through layers of analogue processing and tape simulation. He has described the Mellotron’s cello patch as his starting point: “There’s something about this 60-70 year old recorded cello that sets me into motion.”

About Eric Angelo Bessel

Eric Angelo Bessel is a Portland, Oregon composer, photographer and designer, and one half of the duo Lore City, which he formed in late 2011 with Laura Mariposa Williams. In 2020 the pair established the Lore City Music imprint, which is distributed by Lion Productions and Revolver in the United States and CODE 7 in the United Kingdom. The label has issued the Lore City albums “Alchemical Task” in 2020, “Participation Mystique” in 2021 and “Under Way” in 2022 alongside Bessel’s solo work.

His solo debut “Visitation” appeared on April 21, 2023 with eight instrumental pieces, mixed by Jason Powers and mastered by Carl Saff. “Mirror at Night” followed on October 31, 2025 as a twelve-track LP recorded at Lore City’s own studio, pressed at Precision Record Pressing with plates from GZ Media. A two-track companion, “Mirror at Night B-Sides”, came out on March 27, 2026 as a 7-inch EP pairing “Double Helix” and “Upstate”.

Bessel works with medium-format film cameras and handles the photography, design and layout on every one of his sleeves. “Illusion of an Inland Ocean” is his longest solo release to date and his fourth for Lore City Music in three years.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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