now playing - cloud cult

where did these guys come from?

cloud cult has been around since 1995 and not a single ounce of news about them has ever made it to my ears. not one word. my friend adam just happened to force his headphones upon me one day in munich, all the while professing his undying love for their new album feel good ghosts. adam has always had a great taste in music, so i let him wow me. good thing, because i'm about to buy their entire back catalog as a result.

feel good ghosts sucked me in immediately with quirky lyrics and sporadic sounds. from the first track until the thirteenth, i'm confident in saying that EVERY one is ambitious and carefully thought out. even that 20 second sound clip from the apollo 8 lunar voyage gives me chills.

cloud cult has crafted an album that is timeless. the album's theme seems ultimately existential, the lyrics being some that i have a hard time not following. the songs are littered with an immense arsenal of instruments, ranging from horns to electronic beats to even a whistling section. the quirkiness of the singer's voice alongside this array of sounds puts the band on a new level of unique.

feel good ghosts is in no rush to try and impress you. about half of the tracks start of with a long intro before breaking into a very original song structure (read: "hurricane and fire survival guide"). nothing on the album sounds recycled or out of place. every little nuance is there, happily waiting for you to find it. they have a great sense of humor about themselves as well, evident in the track "story of the grandson of jesus".

i can't wait to dig into cloud cult's back catalog. they have a pretty significant amount of albums including a full length called the meaning of 8 out in 2007. the fact that a band such as this has stayed under the radar from me for so long truly floors me. wow.

<|experimental, indie, rock|>

mp3s (from feel good ghosts):
cloud cult - "hurricane and fire survival guide"
cloud cult - "story of the grandson of jesus"

riyl: efterklang (instruments), modest mouse (quirky vocals), having the rug pulled out from under you