I only came around to Cloud Cult with their sadly under-recognized Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus (2005). I should have been hip to the band earlier; anybody living in Minneapolis in the early '00s could have heard the band on Radio K. Plus, I had even listened to Aurora Borealis (2004) a few times. Still, it took the emotional sinkhole of Advice and one of the band's cathartic live shows to really draw me in. This has me pretty excited about The Meaning of 8, which officially drops in April but is available now on their website.

The album's lead single, "Take Your Medicine," isn't blazing new trails, but it covers familiar territory quite well. As always, the sound is rooted in the band's heavy rhythm section, which makes them sound like a young, hip-hop loving Modest Mouse. Additionally, the band is willing to experiment and shift elements around. There are a few passages that draw everything back to just a quiet acoustic guitar or xylophone, and the cello and keyboard lines provide an interesting counterpoint to the bass throughout the track. Craig Minowa inevitably is a divisive front man, not necessarily because of his voice so much as the unabashed earnestness and clarity of his lyrics. It's a hard line to tow between frank emotion and childlike innocence, and Minowa doesn't always nail it. Still, The Meaning of 8 shows him honing his craft, and "Take Your Medicine" is one of the better examples therein.

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