November 2010
Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer have developed over the years a matchless modus operandi...where anything can become a focal point given the right circumstance. These factors are surprising, in that there’s no time to actually get used to whatever materializes for a fraction of a second; nevertheless, the overall result is often deeply thrilling... The off-center fragment of a skimpy waltz, firstly appearing after a few minutes, is transformed in a breathtaking moment of enlightenment in the final movement, its core melody glowing underwater in a Close Encounters like revelation which is testimony to FURT’s utter humanity... transports a conscientious listener pretty near to the neighborhood where Roland Kayn’s cybernetic masterworks reside. Perhaps Barrett and Obermayer’s creations do not symbolize an equivalent immensity, but the profoundness underlying the sonic montages is exactly the same.