Banished Bridge is a synth-heavy prog album that, although not especially ground breaking, is very dear to me in its raw emotion which I find somewhat reminiscent to Eloy. In this debut, Novalis was a four piece consisting of Heino Schünzel (bass), Hartwig Biereichel (drums), Lutz Rahn (synth), and Jürgen Wenzel (vocals and guitar). It consists of the epic whole-sided title-track, followed by three shorter ones on side B.
A - Banished Bridge
B1 - High Evolution
B2 - Laughing
B3 - Inside of Me (Inside of You)
Listening to these songs again conjure up past memories in a way I don't commonly experience with other records; A time when I was newer to the various styles of 70s prog. This style doesn't seem to have blues or classical influences so much as much soul and gospel, which works especially well with Lutz Rahn's keyboard playing.
The title-track Banished Bridge is an epic 17 minute piece consisting of many sections, which can be somewhat divided into two identical halves. The bird field recording in the opening is such a great touch, and Jürgen Wenzel's vocals seem to just soar through like a bird by the 2:20 mark, in almost a whisper that reminds me of Pink Floyd's 'Green is the Color' (feeling a sense of déjà vu with this comparison?). The intro goes until around 3:30, when the two-halved sequence begins. Here you can hear Lutz Rahn multi-layering what I think to be three synths together in such a gorgeous way, giving way to this awesome in breakdown. The lack of guitar in no way leaves Novalis' empty sounding in Lutz Rahn's driving performance on multiple keyboards, with spot-on precision and emotion. There's also a great choir piece around 10 minutes in, reminding me of Amon Düül II's 'Yeti' but perhaps more powerful and focused. These are musicians with a direct motive and a means of executing them effectively, in contrast to Amon Düül II's more jam oriented endeavors.
It's hard to express the way I feel towards the next song, High Evolution, one of my favorite 70s psych/prog songs of all time. It evokes in me an anxious sense of mortality and existential wandering. The circular nature of existence that comes with time and age. There is something incredible of about the frantic hyper-arpeggiation of the synth, with the dazed and verbed-out existential musings of Jürgen Wenzel. Really wish I could look at what the official lyrics were because they sound incredibly interesting. But anyway, it's an incredibly tight prog rock masterpiece, each sectioning fitting so well into eachother, and in creative ways. I absolutely adore the backing vocalists. The mixing is perfectly balanced, with just the right level of effects.
The third track Laughing never made as big an impression on me compared with the other ones, not to say it's particularly less good, but in how the other ones deeply effected me emotionally, whereas Laughing is more compositionally interesting. It features some soulful keyboard soloing that really rock out and very tight acoustic guitar by Jürgen Wenzel. Laughing doesn't come at me in the raw, immediately sort of way the other tracks did, but it's just as complicated and interesting, and I admire it no less for being that way. Novalis are very tight with their sections, every part exactly where it needs to be for the right amount of time, and impressively this track is no exception. One could argue it's the most complex song on Banished Bridge.
The closing finale, Inside of Me (Inside of You) takes it's sweet time to built up to what (for me) is the most emotionally rapturous and soulful part of the album. Once again I wish I could read what the official lyrics were, because I adore Jürgen Wenzel voice and like the bits of phrases I can make out (I've never been particularly good at hearing out words in music very well). There is something emotionally pure, direct, and uplifting about the keyboard's church organ playing, its effectiveness somehow residing in its simplicity, with its bright and bold major-sounding chords. The brief rock-out ending in the last 15 seconds makes for a nice touch as well.
I don't know if this album is for everyone. I'm not sure who exactly I'd recommend this to. If synth-heavy psychedelia isn't your bag, this may not be your thing, although I might still implore you to give it a try anyway, for the uniquely talented synth-layering methods of Lutz Rahn's playing. And keep in mind that Novalis's precise playing is not like the more open-ended, jammed-out soloing that most psych rock is associated with. Some people I've shown this record to have complained about the shrillness of the organ sound, but it's something I've always personally liked about that instrument so that was never an issue for me. I've always regarded it as one of my most precious finds within 70s psych/prog realm. It's one of those LP's I keep going back to, luring me with its roller coaster of existential as well as uplifting rawness, clarity, and excellent musicianship, as well as its short/concise length of around 37 minutes. I would give this an "objective" 8/10 for its excellent musicianship but not particularly groundbreaking sound, and a "personal" 9/10 for its emotional resonance with me.
PS: It has a curiously inconspicuous album cover, in a style that reminds me of Arvo Pärt and Organum.
