Concert Review: YOU NEED TO SEE Cloud Cult’s The Seeker

I have reviewed Cloud Cult before, and marveled how spiritually uplifting and resonating their show can be. They present life like a pilgrimage; one giant offer from an individual to God/ The Universe with hopes to discover how one heart connects to everyone. This notion is so gorgeous over stringed instrumentals and the rasped, heartfelt vocals of Craig and Connie Minowa. Yet, Cloud Cult’s show at Music Hall Of Williamsburg was unlike anything they have ever done, or anything any artist has done, because it includes their film, The Seeker.

As the lights go black upon Cloud Cult, the film rolls, and the crowd’s heart gets ready to weep. Cloud Cult KNOWS how to create music for the the intellectual mind and the inner spirit. The Seeker stars Anna McKenna and Josh Radnor as a husband and wife watching over their lovely child Grace. When tragedy strikes, Grace is left to grow and learn how to heal herself from trauma. I must warn readers that I am an easy cryer. If I see an image that my mind registers as too beautiful or tragic: the involuntary waterworks begin. Yet, I was not alone in my “severe case of the sniffles”. As I looked at surrounding couples and pairs of friends, I saw people comforting each other’s sadness. It is a strange scene to witness people, with beers in their hands, standing in a hall crying, and watching a huge screen. Usually, those instances are saved for when a “grand” celebrity suddenly passes, but, instead, we were all mourning for the difficulties and sufferings of an everyday woman called Grace. This character was beautifully written, and, amazingly, does not say a single word. For 70 minutes, you rely on the songs of Cloud Cult’s similarly tilted album, The Seeker, to be the dialogues and monologues of characters. This band brilliantly displays the highs and lows of a family through instrumentals that cry in grief and laugh in joy as if they, themselves, were human. Because the stage is so dimly lit, you focus on the film, and the painter in the corner who paints intuitively to what he sees in the film and hears in the music’s soul. Watching him, the film, and the vaguely lit Cloud Cult, enacted a sensory experience, in which, we all meditated upon Grief as an entity.

While the second half of their show was dedicated to their hits and fan-favorites, it is the first half of the concert that distinguishes Cloud Cult creative genius. The importance of their The Seeker tour is that the film and music approaches the truth about tragedy. We all will go through a death or a deep sadness that shakes our spirits to the core. As you watch Grace confront God, herself, and her longing for her passed father, you wish you could tell Life, “Stop! Give HER A BREAK!”. Yet, it is in having that feeling that you realize, Life does not give breaks nor does it care that you do not heal yourself from inner turmoils. Still, sometimes, you need to hit utmost, rock-bottom like, Grace, to be re-born stronger and better than you have ever been before. For some reason, that message leaped at me, and set the tone for the rest of their show, If I thought their concert, just as a band playing hits, was empowering, their film was strengthening. For More Information On Cloud Cult Click Here.