Experimental electronic LP The Clearing was originally self-released on vinyl in 1988 by A Produce (the moniker used by the late Barry Craig) who was a prolific artist operating on the fringe of the ambient electronic and avant garde DIY music scenes of California from the 1980's up until his premature death in 2011. First becoming known in underground circles as guitarist in early 80’s postpunk group Afterimage, then via his Trance Port Tapes label, Craig was responsible for documenting what he coined in his own words "the growing trance music scene" emerging in LA at the time. Craig described his privately released, small-run debut LP as "an album of conceptual space," rooted in LA's early post-punk / DIY scene but containing an intersection of styles incorporating the new experimental or 'trance' music that was starting coalesce in the mid-to-late 80’s. The result is a masterpiece of flow and cohesion, blending early electronic rhythms with keyboards, guitar and synthesizers which careen from lively, hypnotic grooves to deeper, inward-looking minimalist ambient passages. In 2008 Craig re-mastered the album with the help of electronic artist Loren Nerell, and self-released a very limited CDr version which included one bonus track (Raga Riley) that was included on the Independent Project Records compilation Source in 2021. The original album was licensed to the UK label All Night Flight in 2019 for a limited edition vinyl re-issue of 500 copies, and this will be the first time that the album is being made available as a
replicated CD. For this first release in IPR's extensive reissue campaign of his catalog we’ve added three more bonus tracks, solo recordings that Craig included on his three L.A. Mantra compilation cassette releases on Trance Port Tapes between 1983-1985. This will be the first time these three tracks have been made available since their original cassette tape release in the early-to-mid 1980’s, and include several recordings dating back to 1979.
 
Six different cover variations were created for the letterpress-printed CD jackets of The Clearing, closely mimicking the geometric designs of the original vinyl LP release from 1988, which also featured six different cover designs created and printed at Independent Project Press by Bruce Licher and Barry Craig.