Cult Following

Description

Little Scream aka Laurel Sprengelmeyer says she began conceiving of Cult Following while visiting a friend in a small intentional community in northern Brazil. People were running around reading auras, interpreting each others dreams, and living on light instead of eatingwhich was as compelling as it was absurd. I became very aware of the entropy of belief. You could feel the magnetism of ideas take shape and pull people into their center like a black hole a thing so filled with light that its own gravity means that none of it can escape. That experience laid the groundwork for Cult Following, a lush, expansive. retro-leaning gem that straddles intimate fragility with bombastic dancefloor-ready songs. Right from the start, you know youve entered a universe with its own rulesdazzling, dark, and whimsical, not unlike Willy Wonkas gated factory. From the candy-filled ballroom of Love as a Weapon, you are invited onto the comforting ship of the warm ballad Evan, only to find that the waves are falling/ theyre falling in faster, and the ship has no master here comes disaster! When the shipwreck subsides, you find yourself in the dark depths of the song Wishing Well, where Mary Margaret OHara makes a stunning, subtle vocal appearance. Mary Margaret is one of several guests to appear on this record, along with Sufjan Stevens, Sharon Van Etten, and Kyp Malone. Encountering them is not unlike having cameo stars within a film, but the world they inhabit is entirely Little Screams, and her voice acts as a tour guide through lush and sometimes terrifying sonic landscapes carefully constructed with her creative partner, Arcade Fires Richard Reed Parry. Cult Following is a record that deserves to be listened to from start to finish, with each song having been constructed to meld seamlessly into the next. There may be those who listen only to the records obvious catchy hit, but they would be missing out on the depth of stunners like Wishing Well and Someone Will Notice. Like a classic novella, you must pass through all of the records stages to fully experience a triumphant heros journey.