Features

Spotlight: Cloud Cult

“When a star of a certain size dies, it collapses on itself and then it explodes—it’s just a big chaos of different elements,” Craig Minowa says, explaining why he and his wife Connie named their son Nova. “Over time, a new star is formed. It’s the idea that a baby and a new life formed out of the chaos.”

The Minowas—who are also Cloud Cult bandmates—suffered the loss of their infant son Kaidin several years ago and have used those emotions as a conduit to craft lyrics and music that explore love, loss, spirituality and the unknowns of the universe. “It’s about the search for the grand mystery, that light at the end of the tunnel,” says Craig while traveling through Kansas on his way to an East Coast gig. “And the search for God, I guess—not in any specific mass religion but in an overall general sense of divinity in our lives.”

The seven-piece orchestral indie rock outfit fronted by Craig (singer/songwriter) has just released its eighth studio album—the concept album Light Chasers —on the band’s own eco-friendly Earthology Records label.

“A lot of lyrics were written late at night pacing back and forth trying to get [our newborn son Nova, who is now one year old] to sleep and taking in the late night of the winter with a new baby in our arms and being inspired by that,” says Craig. “When thinking about the direction this album was going to go, I felt the necessity to continue the spiritual journey. The Cloud Cult albums [are all] trying to figure out the big picture stuff: why we’re here and where we go.”

Craig originally formed Cloud Cult in 1995 as a solo studio project but it soon grew into a full touring band. He and Connie founded the Earthology Institute shortly thereafter to encourage sustainability and positive environmental change. In an effort to help green the music industry, they also developed a method for creating the first 100 percent postconsumer recycled CD packaging in the United States. And, to date, the band has planted more than one thousand trees. “We take the number of trees that it would take to absorb the amount of CO2 [from touring] and we plant those,” Craig says.

Though the group hails from Minnesota, the Minowas recently moved from their organic farm there to Wisconsin in order to focus on the Earthology Institute. “We’ve had plans to do an environmental, educational retreat center for the better part of a decade now and are finally in a position to do that,” Craig says, adding that they plan to concentrate on a broader scope than just the record label, and will also hold workshops and seminars. While taking time off from touring when Connie was pregnant, Cloud Cult also released a full-length documentary, No One Said It Would Be Easy.
The band continues to experiment with sound on Light Chasers, blending sweeping classical violin and cello with electric guitar, dynamic drums and warped vocals—and has the deft ability to shift from electronica to acoustic ballads, too. The result is a visceral chamber pop album about rebirth, and Minowa’s optimistic and philosophical lyrics evoke a sense of adventure, wonder and responsibility.

In addition to the core musicians, Cloud Cult also travels with two live painters who are considered members of the band—Scott West and Connie. The band sees canvases and brushes as instruments, and aims to give fans a “full artistic experience when they come to shows,” Craig says of the relationship between the band’s art and music. “I can turn around and see how the paintings are developing and they can lift up my energy and inspire me to push to a higher level. And [Scott and Connie are] trying to do the same thing, so we’re basically just trying to amp each other up.

“The visual aspect is something that comes naturally. The two are intimately tied—when you have visual expression unfolding at the same as musical expression, they somehow amplify each other,” he says. “There’s a poetry of visuals and sounds onstage.”