For nearly three decades, Craig Minowa’s musical project, Cloud Cult, has been a supremely underrated act, both in terms of the albums they have released and for their live climactic performances. While they have long maintained a serious cult following, Cloud Cult somehow eluded both the indie art rock era of the early aughts and the neo-folk revival that came a handful of years later despite making acclaimed albums that could fit within either of those. Weirdly enough, this writer discovered them around 2008 from a small contingent of jam band fans drawn in by their live painting and occasionally psychedelic instrumentation. But Cloud Cult has always been a ship charting its own course, from lyrics that contrast uplifting positivity with darker realities to a more exploratory sound that often straddles the line between folk, chamber-pop, and psychedelic indie rock. The band’s latest album Alchemy Creek captures all of these elements in fine form, and on Friday, September 13th, Cloud Cult sailed through Portland, Oregon for a sold-out show at the Aladdin Theater.
“Of all the years we’ve toured and been to Portland, this is my favorite setlist,” announced the perpetually headband-wearing Minowa a couple of songs in Cloud Cult’s set. Indeed, what unfolded after the symphonic, textured burst of opener “Hope” and the shimmering folk-rock of “The Universe Woke Up As You” was a varied and exploratory set that leaned heavily on Alchemy Creek while also touching on albums from the band’s long catalog. Each band member beamed as they filled in their parts with the musical fervor that gives Cloud Cult such a richly layered sound. This included Scott West, whose presence onstage painting on a large spinning canvas easily qualified him as a band member. West would occasionally put down his brushes to pick up drumsticks and even add to the band’s impressive vocal harmonies. “No One Said It Would Be Easy” was rocking and emotionally powerful with ascendant keys over a heavy groove, while “Time Machine Invention” unleashed foot-stomping folk-pop with frantic and fun vocal interplay. Taking on a Bob Dylan cover is always a risky endeavor, but the band breathed new life into “Mr. Tambourine Man” with a creative take that was sweeping, gorgeous, and atmospheric. “I Am a Force Field” was one of the standout new tunes with its motivational lyrics and swelling chamber-pop, while “Unexplainable Stories” was a clear audience favorite with its moody, horn-laden sounds that erupted into a joyous cacophony only to segue straight into “Bigger Than Me” and the almost trip hop-like “Clip Clop.”
Other highlights of the performance included a version of “The Exploding People” that lived up to its title with the whole band banging a drum in unison to give it a percussive force, the folksy, harmony-laden “Lucky Today” leading into a Talking Heads-esque “Different Kind of Day,” and finishing with the bouncy, anthemic “One Way Out of a Hole” that had the whole crowd dancing. By the time the band closed out the evening with two encores that included “There’s So Much Energy In Us” and “Complicated Creation,” Scott West had completed his painting portraying crows flying around the moon. The literal work of art provided a visual reminder of the art that had just transpired over the past ninety minutes. While the songs from Alchemy Creek shined in the live setting and fit right in with older tunes, it was the sum of the performance that provided a reminder of just how special Cloud Cult is.
