Robert Rich is Release Records favourite ambient artist. This San Francisco based artist has given legendary performances, released mavelous albums and worked with a lot of other artists in the field. The Trances/Drones double album was a good proof of his capabilities, but for non-drone lovers a hard pill to swallow. With Bestiary, Rich has gotten into somewhat more accessible territory. The pulsating drones are still there, slurring your conscious and subtlely invading your body, but Bestiary as a whole is a lot more psychedelic. Ambience on LSD would not be to weird a description for "Mantis Intentions" or the "Dante`s Anthropomorphic Zoo"/"Bestiary" piece. Where Trances/Drones was backgroundmusic pur sang, Bestiary suggests a certain presence of mind to completely understand, process and enjoy the soundscapes.

Rich`s interest in ethnic music (ranging from Middle/Far Eastern though Egyptian to Indian and Indonesian) shows in some of the songs as well; "Carapace Hides The Delicacy" is what Clint Mansell could produce for the Asian remake of his underground hit Pi. "Premonition of Circular Clouds" also has some pretty obvious foreign influences, and with "Folded Space" and "Sharpening Her Talons" being the more straightforward drone songs on the album, Robert Rich managed to create enough diversity within the limits of the genre to keep even the more impatient listeners like me interested in the full-length of Bestiary. Admitted, this music might be for a selective audience only, but those who know will surely be satisfied by this album.