Cloud Cult

with David Huckfelt

Doors 7 p.m. | Show 8 p.m. | 18+

Information | Tickets

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A presale is scheduled for Thursday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (the public on-sale opens Friday at 10 a.m.). Subscribe to Cross Currents — The Current’s weekly newsletter — by midnight Wednesday, May 15, to receive details about this week’s presale for Cloud Cult.

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Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult’s philosophical lyrics and indie-chamber-rock sound has been lauded by critics as "insane genius" (Pitchfork) and "an invocation of the lifeforce" (New York Times). Hailed as one of the Top 10 Green Bands by Rolling Stone, Cloud Cult has a history of bucking the mainstream music industry in favor of independently releasing music via their environmentally-conscious record label Earthology Records.

Cloud Cult began as Craig Minowa's solo studio project after the unexpected loss of his son and has grown with an evolving lineup of string, brass, and rock musicians. Known for incorporating live painting into their concerts, Cloud Cult were dubbed by Wall Street Journal as pioneers of multimedia artistry.

Breaking with the recent history of orchestral folk singles that have landed Cloud Cult’s music at the top of college radio charts (including three songs landing in The Current's Hall of Fame), Cloud Cult is set to release a high energy ambient indie rock album, in August of 2024 with singles debuting in May. The album, entitled Alchemy Creek, was written and recorded in a tiny home in the middle of deep Wisconsin woods by Minowa in isolation over the course of two years.

Cloud Cult’s extensive catalogue also includes 10 full-length studio albums, , Unplug (a live album and film), No One Said It Would Be Easy (a feature length documentary film), Stories From the Road (a series of short films), and their album turned feature film, The Seeker – (starring Josh Radnor & Alex McKenna – which landed on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List). Cloud Cult's most recent album, Metamorphosis (2022), was written and composed for performance with the Minnesota Orchestra and included three sold out shows at Minnesota Orchestra Hall, in the fastest ticket sale in the venue's history.

In addition, the band’s green efforts are unmatched. Minowa created the band's own Earthology Records to help green the music industry and co-developed the first 100% postconsumer recycled CD packaging in the U.S. market. The band began zero net greenhouse gas practices for tours long before it was trendy and their merchandise is 100% postconsumer recycled or made of certified organic materials. On top of that, Cloud Cult has planted several thousand trees to absorb the band's CO2 output, their studio is powered by solar power and built partially from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic and they donate heavily to projects that build wind turbines as revenue generators on Native American Reservations.

From a cabin studio in the middle of the woods, Minowa has been releasing a steady stream of weekly Cloud Cult “self-help” songs and videos exclusive to its Patreon base over the last 5 years, ranking the band as one of the top content creators on the platform.

The common thread through what Cloud Cult does as a creative collective is their uplifting message and continual celebration of life, love, and catharsis through music as medicine.

David Huckfelt

David Huckfelt is a singer / lyricist / activist and founding frontman of Minneapolis indie-folk cult favorite The Pines. His work with The Pines received Record of the Year accolades from Mojo & Q Magazine, and garnered praise for Huckfelt from David Fricke (Rolling Stone) as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. In a fifteen-year touring career, he has shared stages with artists from John Prine, Mavis Staples, and Emmylou Harris to Bon Iver, Calexico, and Trampled By Turtles.

Starting with the late Santee Dakota poet John Trudell in 2014, Huckfelt has partnered increasingly with an array of Native American artists and activists in the fight for environmental and social justice. Last year David joined forces with Honor the Earth founder Winona LaDuke to organize and perform at the inaugural Water Is Life benefit festival in Duluth, MN with Bon Iver, Hippo Campus, Adia Victoria & more, with plans in progress for Water Is Life II in summer 2022.

With thousands of shows under his belt across the US, Canada & overseas, Huckfelt’s grassroots following has grown from small-town opera houses, Midwestern barn concerts to national tours and festival stages such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Edmonton and Calgary Folk Fests, and the legendary First Avenue Mainroom in his beloved Minneapolis home. His live performance is both improvisational and masterful, with a rugged optimism that blasts through layers of darkness in real time with songs that speak volumes, soft & clear.