You might recall some reviews I did for Portland, Oregon art rock project Lore City a little while ago. Well, Eric Angelo Bessel is half of that duo (along with Laura Mariposa Williams who does not appear on this album) and 'Visitation' is his first solo album, released on vinyl (limited edition of 300) and digital. While it isn't specifically stated as such on the promo one-sheet, this is an AMBIENT album through and through. The album statement says: "Looking up from underneath, there is a watery peace. A settling as the light sifts downward, refracting the sights above, now wavering into pieces of the world as it was. An accordion of a sigh releasing its weight forever. Little snow globes of living. A tin soldier army marches towards us from an unknown distance. Someday their armory will glint in the sun upon the hill, but it is not today. And the expanse is staged. Hands arbitrarily moving about in space. To grasp, to reach for atoms nodding, agreeing to be solidity. To suspend the vibration of being. A nostalgia just out of reach. Wrapped with blankets in the other room, salt lamp glowing, a little less red. To think we could ever look back on these times with such favor. A kindness, bending nearer." Nice impressionistic text, but it really doesn't define the music.

This is a multi-mood ambient album in 8 parts, or tracks (each under 6 minutes), and while over all it has a certain consistency to it, there is enough variation to hold your attention. Beginning with "Sunken Prism," cloudy pads roll over the horizon as shafts of light emerge from watery depths and there is a sense of breath...breathing in and out. "A Tap on the Shoulder" indicates something heretofore hidden and obscured from view. A certain realization that not everything may be as it seems, especially when quavering strands emerge. "Hoax" was reminiscent of something I've heard elsewhere, perhaps Eno or other early ambient. More big slow moving pads chasing a cloudy day. "Secret Lake" is the first real melodic piece on the album with notes rather than just chordal pads. It's a rich pastiche of shimmering synth sounds layered together almost arpeggiated in a medium tempo and continues its sequence for the bulk of the piece.

Moving to Side 2, we begin with "It's So Far Away" feeling a sense of calm and weightlessness. Another kind of arpeggiated piece, "Less Red," has a nearly religious (or churchy) quality to it with organ undertones in nicely melodic fashion. The darkest sounding piece on the album is undoubtedly "Highest Invoking," with its low rumbling drones and murky ambience. The album really needed this and I'm glad that it's here; certainly what I would have done. "Kindly Rewind" is a throwback title to VHS video store days but it serves a purpose for the backwards synth sounds that are a nice touch on the final track. 'Visitation' is the kind of album I'd expect released by Spotted Peccary Music or Sound In Silence Records, but they don't do many vinyl releases. In fact, I don't see a lot of ambient albums like this being released on vinyl (then again, I don't get out much...figuratively speaking) so I have no definitive info on the subject. If you love instrumental ambient music, I'd definitely pick up a copy of this before they're all gone