Avant-garde pianist Winfried Strauss‘ In The End We Are All Dead is a bittersweet, melancholic piece that winds and lulls; taking the listener on a journey of reflection as keys chime and clash against the hum of a crackling vinyl.
A specialist in minimalism, the Tbilisi-based composer started playing piano aged 6, and recorded his first tracks on a 16-bit Atari Computer in High School. Inspired by the likes of Max Richter, Volker Bertelmann and Philip Glass, Strauss deals in juxtaposition and will often explore antithesis within his arrangements.
In The End We Are All Dead achieves beauty through simplicity, soaring with retrospective strings and romantic melodies underpinned by the nostalgic sounds of mellotron and celesta.
Released July 17, 2020
Artwork image by Alexandru Paraschiv under CC-BY 2.0 license
„Resonance“ bringt die dunkelsten Seiten der Musik zum Leuchten. [unter-ton.de]
The composer Winfried Strauss is a master of contrast. The four tracks on Resonance evoke the thin line between dark and light, with sweet melodies weaving in and out of thick layers of dissonance, occasionally approaching the transcendent.
Resonant Berlin is the heartbeat of the project. In addition to being the opening track, Strauss also includes two remixes that reveal the track’s hidden depths. Built around an eerily arpeggiated piano, Resonant Berlin never allows the listener to get comfortable, with new layers and textures being added right up to the end. The electronic and analog instruments combine to create a soundtrack for an increasingly dystopian world.
Avantgarde Love paints a similar picture. The open spaces allow the imagination to wander as Strauss continues to add subtle shades of color and texture. Strauss’s compositional ability is his greatest strength, as he builds to a cathartic crescendo that offers a brief moment of respite from the darkness.
As the world continues to become more and more unrecognizable, artists who can turn bleak circumstances into something beautiful are naturally becoming more and more valued. Winfried Strauss is just that type of musician, offering a strange and beautiful soundtrack to a chaotic age.
Resonance is available everywhere April 10, 2020
His latest minimalist project, ‘Textures of Being’ is driven by piano keys, ambient electronics, and a visceral avant-garde ethos, creating harmony out of life’s more entropic moments. [thebandcampdiaries.com]
His most recent studio release, ’Textures of Being,” is actually a really good example of Winfred’s amazing attitude and ability to weave tasteful sonic patterns. [broken8records.com]
Textures of Being is an album that unites Strauss‘ past with present times. Drawing inspiration from minimal classical pioneers such as Max Richter, Volker Bertelmann and Philip Glass as well as recent electronic music, Strauss weaves together piano compositions with elements of dark wave, techno and ambient music.
Exploring the realms of contrast, he doesn’t shy away from combining simple piano chords with gentle string parts, and then slashing them with white noise and heavy distortion. A 9-track effort, Textures of Being takes listeners on a journey of emotion with dark dreamy tracks like French Mood to noisy/experimental songs such Catharsis and Rondo Alla Turca.
„The album is a reflection of personal moods and feelings,“ he said. „I want to take people on a trip.“