“The middle ground between Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way is not such a bad place to inhabit. And this San Francisco quartet pitch their tent there very successfully.” 4 stars – Mojo
“Noumena is proof positive that ‘post-rock,’ or whatever it’s termed these days, still has a certain unreached potential to be discovered, and The Drift seem to have hit upon a direction that is urgent enough to venture further into… Noumena could, and should, launch The Drift alongside folk like their labelmates in Explosions In The Sky as some of the more compelling cases to be made for instrumental rock.” 4.5/5 – Tiny Mix Tapes
“After the brutally intense debut 12” from the Drift, it was only logical that a full-length similar to the teaser would land shortly afterwards, much to the delight of post-rock fans everywhere… In a genre that often recycles its own ideas and eats its young, this is potent and fresh.” 4 stars – All Music Guide
“Sporting slow motion, incandescent incantations and miles of majestic instrumental magick, San Francisco’s The Drift post-rock so hard they think nothing of teasing four minutes of hazy gaze three times over until it becomes a 12-minute epic. Herein lies their triumphant strength: they allow each instrument the space and context to develop and abstract-the longer the songs, the better they are. Battling for conceptual cornerstone are the glimmering guitar of Tarentel’s Danny Grody and Jeff Jacobs’ bastard Bitches Brew fusion trumpets and flugelhorns-every other instrumental band should be terrified about now.” – XLR8R
“Noumena is a fascinating and ambitious collision of musical styles that easily transcends its ingredients to create a sound all of its own. It is tight and structured, intellectual and calculated, yet has enough surprises and moments of blissed-out trance to satisfy any diehard disciple of swing. The Drift has truly begun to soar.” – One Final Note