Cloud Cult, recently announced their new album Alchemy Creek will drop on August 8th via Earthology Records. Ahead of the LP’s arrival, they have shared a video for “As Beautiful As It Hurts.” Alchemy Creek was written, recorded, and produced by the band’s frontman Craig Minowa in the solitude of a tiny cabin on wheels in the middle of the Wisconsin woods after a difficult divorce. “It’s devastating to lose someone you’ll always love. So every day I’d fall apart when I came to work in that little cabin by the creek, and I’d write songs to try to piece my heart back together and make sense out of life.” Cloud Cult will be releasing a waterfall of singles monthly until the full album and tour launch in August, which kicks off on the 28th in Boston.

From that cabin studio, Minowa has been releasing a steady stream of weekly Cloud Cult songs and videos exclusive to its Patreon base, ranking the band as one of the top content creators on the platform. Just last month Cloud Cult released “I Am A Force Field,” the first of several album tracks to come out ahead of Alchemy Creek. Incorporating the sounds of nature that surrounded him while working on music for the new album was extremely important to Minowa, who wanted the listener to be transported to the woods where he was. “You can hear the creek outside of the recording studio windows on this single as well as most of the album tracks,” Minowa shared. “That’s where the idea of naming the album Alchemy Creek came from, because it felt like the songs were being delivered by the water, and that was somehow helping me process the pain and change me for the better.”

Although the album formed in that isolation over two years, Minowa invited bandmates out this spring for recording sessions of violin (Shannon Frid-Rubin), cello (Daniel Zamzow), French horn (Sarah Perbix), trombone (Shawn Neary), and drums (Jeremy Harvey). In contrast to the band’s previous album Metamorphosis, Minowa oversaw the mixing and production on the added tracks to ensure the feeling of the cabin would be maintained in the audio recordings. “All of the songs on the record are connected together to present one nonstop story, and I want the listener to feel like they are sitting there by the creek watching the whole album unfold.” said Minowa. “Providing a sense of place in this album was paramount.” Mastering was done at Rare Form Mastering by Greg Reierson (Prince, Sufjan Stevens, The Cure), who has mastered eight of Cloud Cult’s records.

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. 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.

Cloud Cult 2024 North American Tour Dates

August 9 @ People Fest in Yuba, WI
August 28 @ The Sinclair in Boston, MA
August 29 @ Le Poisson Rouge in New York, NY
August 30 @ World Café Live in Philadelphia, PA
August 31 @ Summer Entertainment Series in Fairfax, VA
September 12 @ Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA
September 13 @ Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR
September 27 @ Palace Theater in St. Paul, MN
September 28 @ Palace Theater in St. Paul, MN

Pre-order Alchemy Creek by Cloud Cult HERE