Standing With the Rain is a powerful collection of seven original pieces by East Coast pianist/composer David Sutton. Several of the pieces on the album first appeared on Sutton’s 2007 Sutton Place either as piano solos or piano with other instruments. This newer album was a personal passion project prompted by but Sutton’s curiosity about what his music could sound like with the “depth and richness of an orchestra.” Most of the tracks are vibrant and deeply emotional, and it’s not likely many will fall asleep listening to them, but the excitement is palpable and the music is beautiful, expressing a colorful variety of moods and experiences.

Quoting the artist about how the album came into being:

“I started by doing as much as I could on my own, then hired individual musicians to help bring that vision to life. I shared my tracks and described the sound and emotion I envisioned. Gradually, I selected and layered their live performances into the arrangements, allowing each piece to grow beyond the piano while preserving the personal feeling at its heart.

“Using live instruments rather than samples was central to the project. There is something deeply moving about hearing another musician interpret a melody you first played alone. Each performance brought a new dimension to the music, turning something I had imagined into something I could finally hear.

“What began as something I wanted to hear for myself became something I wanted to share. My hope is that listeners will find a feeling, a memory, or a moment in the music that becomes their own.”

Standing With the Rain opens with the title track, a big, anthemic piece that includes electric guitars, wordless choral vocals, percussion, thunder(!), orchestration, and more! It begins as “the calm before the storm,” with voices and piano, building gradually as more voices and electric guitars join in. There is a short pause in the music, and then the storm breaks loose, turning the piece into more of a rock powerhouse and then calming to the end - a very impressive start! “Wild Stallions” would be amazing behind footage of the magnificent title creatures. High-energy and triumphant with a touch of poignance, strings, flute, percussion and voices send this one soaring. “Dancing Lady - A Song for Mariel” is much lighter and dreamier with voices, piano, flute and orchestration, ending with a short piano solo. “For You My Love” is a passionate slow dance perfect for many romantic scenarios - in movies and real life! “In Hiding” has quite a variety of instruments layered to tell its poignant story - piano, flutes, electric bass guitar, percussion, and more. “Mary’s Melody” returns to a more epic scale with full orchestration, choir, piano, flute and many other expressive instruments that let passion flow from every note! “Fly Away With Me” could easily come from the soundtrack of a romantic movie that makes you shed a tear every time you see it. Poignant yet triumphant, it touches the heart and brings the album to a very satisfying close.

Standing With the Rain is available to stream or download on Amazon and Apple Music/iTunes as well as many streaming services including Spotify and YouTube. Check it out!