AUGENBLICKE

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from this late-period Novalis disc, but I was pleasantly surprised. As you can tell from the above track listing, they had pretty much entirely migrated to the short-song format by this time. What you can't tell, though, is that roughly half the songs are instrumentals.

The vocal highlights include Detlef Job's folky "Herbstwind" and two haunting Mühlböck-sung ballads: "Als kleiner Junge" and "Begegnungen". The latter is made striking by the use of harmonica, a first (and, I believe, last) for Novalis. The other vocal tunes ("Ich hab' noch nicht gelernt zu lieben" and "Magie einer Nacht") aren't worth much, and point to the band's rather dismaying future.

The balance of the album, however, is entirely instrumental, and spotlights Rahn's keyboard work in a delightful way. He's not quite as "on" as he was on FLOSSENENGEL, but his rich and textural style suits these little bagatelles well. File under: better than it has any right to be.