Lanier's Climb To The Sky

Lanier's Climb To The Sky

Bruce Von Stiers

I have reviewed several of Stanton Lanier's albums. They all have two things in common. First, the songs are soft and gentle. The second common element is that each song is based in biblical scripture. And so is Stanton's latest album, Climb To The Sky.

In the past Stanton's albums have been produced by Will Ackerman of Windham Hill Records fame. But this time Lanier produced the album himself. He provided all of the piano on the album and the orchestration as well. Skip Fine played bass guitar on two of the tracks on the album. There are cinematic re-mixes on the album that Stanton co-produced with Jacob Lanier.

Climb To The sky has twelve songs and a play time of fifty-six minutes.

As I mentioned earlier, this new album, like Stanton's previous releases, have their basis in bible scripture. “I live and breathe God...” is from Psalms 34. This scripture forms the thought behind the first song on the album, Breathe. It is a subtle and gentle piano track.

Longing For Heavenly Country is the second song. Taking a passage from Hebrews, Stanton invokes a sense of tender wanting.

Both dawn breaking and the sun setting can be envisioned with the song Dawn And Dusk Take Turns Calling. There is the first song on the album that features bass. It makes a beautiful addition to an already terrific song.

A Long And Lonely Night has a bit of a darker tone. It is based on a passage in Corinthians.

Yet another bass addition can be heard in Counting The Sand of the Sea.

A passage in Psalms asks a question about being able to avoid God's spirit, because even climbing to the sky the spirit will be there. That passage provides the core of the title track for the album, Climb To The Sky. It is a wonderful and uplifting song.

Other songs on the album that find their foundation in the book of Psalms are Guardians of the Night and My Soul Silently Waits.

Job is all about one man's obedience and love of God, no matter what life has thrown at him. From a passage in that book of the bible comes the song While The Morning Stars Sang In Chorus. It is a beautiful song that is has both strong and gentle piano.

For Such A Time As This is probably my favorite song on the album. It has a lyrical style to it that made me feel really at peace while listening to it. Stanton used passages from Esther and Song of Songs for the foundation of this song.

Stanton Lanier has a certain soft and easy style to his music. The songs aren't overly complicated. But, for me, that is what makes Stanton's music all the better. You don't have to try to catch certain undertones in the music. What you get in the songs on any Stanton Lanier album is soft, gentle and relaxing piano music. Climb To The Sky is just that kind of an album; soft, gentle and relaxing piano music.

You can order Climb To The Sky from amazon or other retailers. You can also order the album directly through Stanton Lanier's web site. That site also has samples from the album.

The official web site for Stanton Lanier is http://www.stantonlanier.com/ He also has a fan page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stantonlanierpiano

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