Life is like a river flowing in reverse. We start off our lives in the ocean, and we are immediately confronted with an infinite number of choices: should we go up the Nile, or the Amazon, or the Mississippi?  We choose one and we proceed down that path, and after a while we face another decision:  should we go up the right tributary or the left tributary? Again we make a choice and proceed. Throughout life we go through this process over and over again and our life path evolves and takes from. 

As we make these choices our future options become limited in a fashion by the choices we make today, for while we can certainly always go back down the river to test another path, it requires an increasingly greater effort to make these kind of changes once we are already far down one particular path. Eventually as our life nears competition we approach a tiny spring on a mountaintop and we have no more choices. The path is complete and the journey is over.

I believe that there is an ideal path for everyone as an individual, and that this path can perhaps be called fate or destiny. I believe that it likely preexists before and outside our lives and is perhaps created by God or the universe or whatever your particular persuasion would like to call it. 

I believe that this ideal path is the one that will bring us the most completeness and satisfaction in our lives as individuals, and at the same time, this is the path that will greatest fulfill an even larger plan or path towards a universal fate or destiny for humanity. All of our individual paths function like threads in a cosmic tapestry which represents a larger, universal plan that unfolds upon itself over the sea of time.

The interesting thing however, is that it is up to us as individuals to earnestly seek out our own ideal path, and as a consequence, our contribution to the larger tapestry. It is not something we are forced into; it is an active decision we must make and it requires effort. We must have the strength to follow it. I do not believe in "apathetic fatalism", as I would call it - "if it is meant to be, it will be". I believe it is up to us to honestly and truthfully search our hearts for our own ideal path, and then diligently go after it with vigor and passion and make it happen.

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"Autumn Rains" is the second installment in a trio of neoclassical solo piano albums composed, performed, and produced by Andrew Souter. These projects have been two decades in the making and represent a return to traditional music composition, engaging song-writing, and the pure passion of emotional story-telling. This trio represents Andrew's most personal and intimate music. It is quite literally a love project. We hope it may help you on your journey, as it has us...

"Autumn Rains" is music inspired by the spirit of Agape. It is an album dedicated to the concept of spiritual love and universal compassion clothed in the metaphor of transcendental natural beauty. It is an album that simultaneously expresses deep love for both the creator as well as the creation. It is said God gave us music so that we could pray without words. It could be added that nature was provided as an example of exactly how to do this effectively. In this spirit, Autumn Rains is a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to learn from the natural beauty of this world, and an expression of a sense of respect for the inescapable universal equality that nature imposes. It humbly attempts to capture deep feelings of awe, granduer, idealism, and a belief in the innate goodness of the world even when we all face exceptionally hard lessons.

Andrew Souter -- The River

House music lover, father and loving partner

I create things.  Musical things...  Technological things...

Production of my third solo piano album to complete the trilogy is underway now! Stay tuned...

If you enjoy the music please support via Apple Music, Spotify, or other streaming/download service. My music is also available directly from my company web-store in uncompressed WAV format as well if you prefer:

http://www.designersound.com/

My other job is co-founder and primary algorithm designer of 2CAudio.  We make some pretty cool stuff for the pro audio software community including some of the best reverbs on the planet, which you are hearing in all of my personal work here too of course.

http://www.2caudio.com
http://galbanum.com/about/people/

Thanks for all of your kind words and support!