Rock / Indie Rock
7.6/10
Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), Cloud Cult’s most recent album, was released earlier this year. Overall, the album is thoroughly enjoyable, but it must be noted that it’s different than Cloud Cult’s previous installments. For a very unique band, Cloud Cult’s Feel Good Ghosts predictably deviates from their previous albums. Cloud Cult experiments with a heavier use of synthesized keyboard and drumbeats, which is a bit offsetting. While their past two albums have been more traditionally focused around guitar and piano, Feel Good Ghosts takes an adventurous turn. While The Meaning of 8, the album that precedes Feel Good Ghosts, hinted at violin and cello use, Feel Good Ghosts takes their use of strings to another level.
While this is isn’t Cloud Cult’s best album, one of the things that keeps the listener coming back is lead singer/songwriter Craig Minowa’s mysterious and enchanting vocals. The death of his infant son in 2001 has obviously affected Minowa’s music, but to me, his late son has become his music. Every new album, every new approach, is an attempt to cope with his loss. Many times personal loss will bring an artist’s musical career to a standstill, but not for Minowa. Some have said that the title, Feel Good Ghosts hints at Minowa’s reconciliation with his past, but it’s not entirely convincing. A careful listen to each song on Feel Good Ghosts will engender a twinge of sadness.
Feel Good Ghosts, and Cloud Cult, are proof that meaningful music still exists. If you’re upset with meaningless mainstream music today, then I suggest you take a listen to Cloud Cult.
