Cloud Cult’s Running With The Wolves EP is available today! It’s a digital-only four song EP that includes one brand new song from their forthcoming album, Light Chasers, which will be available in August. The three remaining songs are from 2006 and 2007, so I think that current fans will like the trip down memory lane, and the potential fans (like me) will have a chance to play catch-up and get a brief history of the band’s sound throughout the years. I think this album has a great selection of songs on it, they’re all different styles but you can tell they’re by the same band. I think it’s important to be able to change up your style but stay distinct, and that’s an ability Cloud Cult has shown on this EP.

 Running With The Wolves
If this is what Light Chasers is going to sound like, save me a copy, please. I love the beginning guitar sound, but then a filtered electric guitar comes in and (this definitely could just be my speakers) it makes it sound more like static or a blown out speaker than a guitar. The song has a pleasant beat to it…it’s incredibly hard not to start tapping your toes or bobbing your head from side to side. It’s just instinct with songs like this. “We were running for a reason, left our cubicles in little flaming piles. We were running for a reason, I need to feel something different for just a little while.” “I’m not coming home, I’m staying with the wolves. You can burn all my mail and disconnect my phone.” Those lines are all stick out and get stuck in my head. I guess this song is about escape, and the guitar just sounds…free. I could definitely see some slow montage at the end of a movie with some of the characters running through an empty field, or driving on a lonely highway, etc. Okay, end cheesy, cliché movie endings! Judging from the rest of the songs on this EP, Light Chasers will have a slightly changed sound, but don’t worry, you’ll still recognize Cloud Cult. Running With The Wolves has such a nice, soft sound, and such awesome lyrics that I found it incredibly hard not to leave it on repeat.

Mr. Tambourine Man (2006)
I’ve never heard the original Bob Dylan version of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” so I have no comparisons to make to the original. The very beginning is odd, but the electronic drums mixed with acoustic guitar sound really cool, and singer Craig Minowa’s voice sounds a lot like Ben Gibbard (to me) on some of the higher notes. I don’t even know what noise it is that is repeating throughout the song, maybe some weird vocal loop or filtered guitar but it’s really hard to get past that noise and listen to the rest of the song, so I wish that has been left out…I would probably like the song a lot more if it wasn’t there. The piano adds a beautiful touch, and the electronic drum beats never seem out of place, even in such a classical sounding song. I’m not a Bob Dylan fan, but I’m guessing that Cloud Cult have done this song justice, because it almost makes me want to check out the original and have both versions.

A Place  (2007)
This is definitely my favorite song on the EP. It starts with fast paced acoustic guitar and a low note on a piano adds depth and gives it a darker, more powerful sound. I don’t think the song would be the same without the piano, even though it’s not exactly at the forefront of the song. Sometimes it’s the quiet stuff that says the most, I guess. There’s a part where there a two vocal melodies and a bouncy piano part, and it sounds very fun, which is definitely a contrast to the acoustic parts with the low piano notes. (Sorry to talk about the low piano note so much but I just really like it.) This song contrasts a lot with the rest of the EP, because the other songs sound more lighthearted, but it’s always good (or in this case, great) to mix it up! “Do you remember when we kissed like spaceships?” I have no idea what that lyrics is about, but you’re lying if you don’t think that sounds really awesome.

Where Are You Now (2007)
The beginning of this song doesn’t really do it for me, but when the electric guitar comes in it gets a lot better, and then when the bass comes in, it gets good. The lyrics “Something tells me that we’re gonna be okey dokey” just makes it hard for me to take the entire song seriously…there’s a point where rhyming makes things sound worse than if the lines were the least rhyming lines in the world. This isn’t a very strong song lyrically or musically for the most part…but it could just be because that one line (the first line in the song) has me hung up. Although, around 3:18 it gets instrumental and for a second sounds like the song is going to end, but instead, it just gets really cool and I wonder why the rest of the song didn’t sound like this. It’s basically just two minutes of jamming, and I really like it.

Basically: If you already like Cloud Cult, this new song should sell you on the upcoming album. If you’ve never heard of Cloud Cult, this new song should sell you on the upcoming album. As a compilation EP, I think it’s a really cool idea to have songs from different stages in the band’s history to keep it interesting and make it a kind of crash course in Cloud Cult. I would have given this EP a four if the things that bothered me about the songs didn’t really bother me. Luckily, these few weak points are forgivable in comparison to the true talent showcased.

Best Song: “A Place”