Founded in 2018 The Strange Encounters are at heart a duo who comprise Guido Kreutzmüller and Joe Armstrong and offer a mixture of jangly folk, blues and rock’n’roll from the psychedelic heart of Berlin.
They released their first full length album `All in the Mind` last month in which their lyrics paint complex pictures, full of desire, sensitivity, and self-awareness. Their stories come from a place of love as well as from the fascination for everyday life and its characters. They tell of the big and small delusions and confusions in human relationships, as well as describing the social dislocations happening next door.
The album breathes life with `Don’t Hold Back` with its organ tones and jangly guitars with harmonic vocals and lyrics that reminisce on what may be the early exciting days of arriving in a new city that you intend to make possibly your forever home and having friends come to visit. I thought there was a really appealing vibe to `Recognize` which seems to relate a relationship that seems pretty much one sided. It really put me in mind of the wonderfully simple but compelling tracks that Del Amitri produce.
`Surveillance Town` has some enticing percussion and strummed guitars that lead us in and guide us through a reflection on how most towns have become saturated with closed-circuit television which has almost negated the spontaneity of a good “no holds barred” night out. There is a Byrds like texture to `Under The Sun` which is a further charming ear worm that recounts another relationship where again one participant is uncertain as to the future of this association.
`Different` is as the title suggests a little different. A ballad like musing on maybe a former love interest. There`s a nice arrangement to the track with piano, strings and maybe a woodwind section all blended in. We enjoy another introspective piece with `An Hour Or A Day` which has some captivating strings.
`They Keep Walkin’ On By` is an upbeat jangle pop / folk rock outing although its subject matter seems to hint at how we almost ignore each other in this `dog eat dog` society where the vulnerable are left to fend for themselves. We have a reflection on somebody who drifts through life in their own world with `Twenty Sixteen` which had a slight Americana feel with some starkly desolate guitar chords and a warm almost enveloping organ resonance.
`Thinkin’ Drinkin’` is another thoughtful meditation that seems to signpost that a lot of assumptions, conclusions and decisions come from a session where alcohol is imbibed. We have another contemplative ballad like offering with `A Smile For Everyone` which may hint at something darker within its depths.
The anthemic `The Boy In The Mirror` may hint at self-reflection with its content that almost becomes a stream of consciousness as this number progresses and weighs in at just under eight minutes in length with the album`s title strap line of ”All In The Mind” becoming like a mantra that is chanted throughout. The release closes out with `Long Lost Days` a folk tinged rumination on a relationship that works so well that maybe the narrator takes it for granted. The strummed banjo and fiddle strings gave the number a delightful whimsical appeal.
`All in the Mind` has so much to offer both musically and lyrically. It`s delightfully melodic but also delivers some thought-provoking lyrical opinion on ordinary everyday situations. It moves from power pop arrangements to ballads to much more reflective compositions and is an album that will leave you with a smile on your face and a warm glow inside. In these difficult times what more could you ask for.
Rating 8.5/10
