The Cloud Hymn is the alias of Wisconsin-born, singer-songwriter, John Nielsen. During Nielsen’s time in Eau Claire, WI, eleven songs were born in the quiet panic of transition and life-changes, originating in Eau Claire, WI during the mud of colorful leaves and the frost of leaves deceased. The project is a direct result of its debut full-length, A Seed Buried In The Ground.
Nielsen wrote most of the songs found on A Seed Buried In The Ground as a means of coping – for emotional release, and spiritual processing while still attending college. With little intention to pursue much of anything with his music, he broadcasted self-recorded demos for friends to hear and left it at that. Time went by, semesters came and went, Nielsen performed out once or twice, and word eventually spread. Fellow Eau Claire musician, Paul Brandt (Cranes & Crows), heard Nielsen’s songs in the spring of 2008, and encouraged the young songwriter to pursue more than just his home-recording hiss.
A Seed Buried In The Ground was recorded over the course of two days in the heat of late June in the attic of a little blue house. Its sound consists of airy guitar and voice played over simple piano melodies – a sound conceived from snow-covered branches lining dark and wet highways in the apathy of winter’s quiet splendor. Each song melts together in complete cohesion, making for a lonely and lovely trip through their writer’s consciousness. They are whispered melancholy accounts of buttoning up and spilling open, of looking out and looking in. They are pulling for something and someone else.
Nielsen resides in Minneapolis, MN where he is currently in pursuit of his degree in law. The Cloud Hymn is actively performing throughout the region.
photo by: Coley Beekman
