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Eric Bessel and Laura Williams first became friends as students at Syracuse University. After graduating and moving to different cities, the two SU alumni reunited when Williams came across a flyer for one of Bessel’s art shows in Chicago.

The duo eventually formed a long-distance relationship that would lead to not only an eventual marriage but the creation of the art-rock band Lore City. The band released its third album “Alchemical Task” on Tuesday.

“With this new album, it has a very spiritual message for us. It’s kind of an evolution,” Williams said. “I just hope that people hear it as a message of unity.”

Bessel and Williams met through shared classes and spent a lot of time together in the photography labs. Bessel, who graduated in 2004 a year before Williams, helped guide her through the photography labs, giving her “tips or tricks,” Williams said.

In 2014, Bessel and Williams found their way to Portland. The couple makes their music in their home studio. Courtesy of Lore City

After graduating, Bessel moved to Brooklyn where he managed a consulting job while pursuing his art career. Meanwhile, Williams moved to Chicago where she began playing the guitar and switched her career path of video art toward poetry and making music.

When Bessel’s art career was progressing, he got the opportunity to display his artwork in Chicago. Coincidentally, Williams came across a flyer for the art show, leading to their reunion.

Williams and Bessel started dating long distance and traveled back and forth between Chicago and Brooklyn. Bessel, who had been creating music since a young age, encouraged Williams to turn her poetry and guitar playing into songs. In late 2011 in Brooklyn, the two formed their band Lore City.

Williams created the band’s name, Lore City, after inspiration from a folklore class she took at SU. Williams said she learned that every story in the world can be refined down to a “tale type” which is a recurring plot in a folk tale, and she believes that everyone is living out the same stories with the same pattern.

“We’re all so connected, and we’re all living out the same things. We’re all scared of the same things, and we all want love,” Williams said. “I just feel like the core of humanity is like a tale type, so I really liked the word ‘lore’ as a way to kind of embody that.”

After Bessel proposed to Williams on New Year’s Day, the couple got married in Ithaca during the fall of 2012. While planning for their wedding, they recorded their first album “Absence in Time.” Bessel said that Ithaca was a “stepping stone” for them as a couple and as a music duo.

Williams created the band’s name Lore City after inspiration from a folklore class she took at SU. Courtesy of Lore City

After living in Ithaca for two months, the couple moved to Chicago where they met their mastering engineer, Carl Saff. Saff mixed and mastered all three of Lore City’s albums and still continues to collaborate with the band today.

In 2014, Bessel and Williams found their way to Portland. The couple makes their music in their home studio, where they experiment with different instruments and get “lost in the process” of creating music, Bessel said. There are times when Bessel may play an instrument, such as percussion or the keyboard, while Williams sings, or he may carry the whole song with Williams as a background voice.

Williams said that it is a “slippery slope” when trying to explain Lore City’s music to people.

“We like to say ‘art rock’ because it really is our art in the sense that we’re not trying to make a 2-minute pop song that you’re gonna hear when you’re shopping at the grocery store,” Williams said.

The two find importance in developing relationships with their collaborators. Besides working with Saff, they also collaborate with Jason Powers, their mixing engineer who they met through Saff. Powers collaborated with the couple in his home studio while creating the album.

Powers enjoys working with Lore City and said that working with them was a good fit because he likes the music they create.

“They’re a sweet couple of people, and they’re really chill and nice to work with,” Powers said. “As far as the music, I think that they really do a lot with setting a feeling and setting a vibe, even when the song is structurally very simple.”

Published on October 6, 2020 at 11:59 pm

racramer@syr.edu