Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The pleasure of connection is at times at odds with our own observation. In a world that is willing to disconnect on the advice of the merest whim, on the perceived slight, to still be able to converse with anyone, even if it just your own reason and soul, is a remarkable act of achievement; for to agree with your own self in a world of madness is an act of rebellion where all around you is insisting you declare that You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind.

There is nothing wrong with talking to yourself in such a manner, indeed it can aid the interaction of argument, to see both sides of the matter, to acknowledge that the world is off kilter, or that your perception is skewed.

To understand an argument from either side takes persistence and skilful negotiation, the senses of an artist with the heart of a diplomat, and one that Dietrich Strause has come to utilise with full effect and one that is presented with beautiful arrangement and harmony of spirit on his latest adventure, You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind.

Across tracks such as How To Be Invisible, Love Will Rule The World, Weathervanes, To Turn Away From You Now, and the album opener of All Is Fair, Dietrich Strause weaves imposing melody out of the air, like a conjuror, a magician with no need for an apprentice, content with the spell cast as subtly blends with drama, and the need for spoken narrative embraced as the conversation of notes flows in a riotous, raucously thought display of passion, of seriously intriguing desire and musical appetite.

You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind, a nod maybe to the conversation in our own minds, the ego and the listener, the process of going back and forth in our minds as we navigate the finer response to the stimuli of the modern age which provokes, incites, and enflames; one that we grasp is ours to aid, to push us in a direction of feeling alive; and as Dietrich Strause’s music comes to our ears and registers in our soul, we feel the art of the in tune heartbeat ever more accordingly.

An album of tremendous determination, flavour, and depth; You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind absolutely.  

Dietrich Strause’s You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind is out now via Blueblade Records.

Ian D. Hall