This Fathom reissue of two early
Robert Rich releases makes a handy companion to the composer's more fully formed recent work (particularly the dark ambient albums
A Troubled Resting Place and
Stalker). Although the albums are very different from one another, their respective foci --
Numena's psycho-acoustical organicism, Geometry's sense of melodic symmetry and balance -- combine as the two guiding principles of most of
Rich's composing throughout his career. As a whole, Geometry has aged the least gracefully of the two, inflected as it is with a by now new age-y melodicism that detracts from the less specific grouping of the album's lush textural support.
Numena, however, sounds as focused and exploratory as it did when it was recorded; remarkable, since over a decade has passed. ~ Sean Cooper