ZapTown

Cloud Cult
They Live On The Sun/Aurora Borealis: 2009 Re-Master/Re-Release
Earthology
Rating: 4 out of 5

Link: http://www.cloudcult.com/

Cloud Cult has been like a mythic figure overshadowing the independent music scene for a better part of the 21st Century. Labeled one of the greenest bands in the industry, making a huge impact with their 2007 release The Meaning of 8, and nominated for Artist of the Year at the Minnesota Music Awards in 2004, to name a few.

That nomination came shortly after the release of Aorora Borealis and the end of two albums that intimately dealt with the loss of leader Craig Minowa’s two-year-old son.

They Live On The Sun is a rollercoaster ride through the stages of grieving. You have the delirium of “Moon’s Thoughts,” the anger of “Radio Fodder,” and the contemplation of “I’m Not Gone” that splices in audio samples of his son talking and playing. It’s an incredibly sobering moment to experience as the feeling really hits home on “Took You For Granted,” as Minowa sings and sobs about his son. It might be the saddest song in existence.

Beyond the endearment of this album it’s Aurora Borealis that is the better release of the two and rightfully deserving not just a nomination, but one of the more interesting and unique indie albums out there. Minowa is still dealing with loss, but you have a sense of resolution in this album and better structure to their indie experimental creature that is this multi-instrumental band.

So what if “Alone At A Party In A ghost Town” sounds like mid-’90s Blur meets Nirvana. It fits in context with “All Alone Together” and their musical take on the mystery of the unknown. Minowa’s fragile-and-cracking falsetto feels even more haunting with the piercing cuts of strings while maintaining a sense of anger within his trying to understand life and the universe that surrounds it. “Have we gone wrong or are we growing.”

Aurora Borealis is a realization and an album that musically breaks free of simple constructs. Bleeding in acoustic with electrified chords, weird samples, weirder drum effects, the noisy and ethereal of “Northern Lights,” and the random layers of electronic hums on “The Sparks And Spaces Between Your Cells.” The album ends with “Beautiful Boy” and a reminder that there is no true resolution in Minowa’s world, only awareness and the conclusion that his son is gone and the closer we get to understanding it all, the farther we really are.