Waiting for the Rain

‘Waiting for the Rain’ is a timeless concept album about growing up. Not unique in its theme, but highly adventurous in its form. Tom Bruins’ debut album ranges from singer-songwriter to baroque pop and prog rock, all in one.

From the opening track, mysterious harmonium tones pull the listener deep into the cycle. That archaic-sounding instrument immediately lends the record a strangely magnetic, almost antique quality.

Written specifically for vinyl, Waiting for the Rain embraces the classic LP structure of Side A and Side B. Bruins intentionally leaned into this so-called “limitation,” using the format’s two halves to shape the album’s playful, carefully constructed arc. Each track flows into the next, encouraging the listener to hear it as one continuous piece.

For those wondering what a modern song cycle might sound

 like, a few striking examples from pop history may help: The Beach Boys’ ‘SMiLE’ and Van Dyke Parks’ ‘Song Cycle’. The influence of records such as Harry Nilsson’s ‘Aerial Ballet’, Genesis’ ‘Selling England by the Pound’, and Randy Newman’s debut album can also be heard on ‘Waiting for the Rain’. With this song cycle, Bruins hopes to breathe new life into the art form in 2025.

The album was recorded at the SSE Studio in Amsterdam-Noord with producers Frans Hagenaars and Yorick van Norden.

Tom Bruins

Like Nilsson and Newman, Bruins treasures the art of storytelling in song. Moreover, the spirit of Cole Porter, one of the key creative forces behind The Great American Songbook, is ever-present, and the influence of Dutch cabaret artist Maarten van Roozendaal has also left its mark on Bruins. The result is an album that’s at once 

personal, theatrical, and musically expansive.

Lyrically, Bruins turns his attention to the absurdities of daily life, and the puzzling ways in which people communicate with each other—and with themselves—about them. Literature and film are key sources of inspiration, especially the role of fictional characters in songs and the blurred line between invention and reality.

On ‘Waiting for the Rain’, four narrators guide us through the story: the toddler, the schoolchild, the teenager, and the adolescent. We peer through a window at each stage, watching them wrestle with the confusions and breakthroughs of growing up. Importantly, these narrators are not stand-ins for the artist himself. In that sense, Bruins sets himself apart from confessional singer-songwriters, choosing instead to create a more universal, multi-voiced work.