Cloud Command is a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based recording studio and independent record label. It is owned and operated by songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Marchant.
As a songwriter and producer, Marchant has released five full-length albums and nine EPs under a number of different names. His active projects include the acclaimed experimental rock band Lightning Cult and an electronic pop-influenced solo project called Steady Circuits. As a performer, Marchant has played major festivals, appeared on television and radio, and shared stages with many influential independent artists.
Marchant initially rose to prominence in 2008 as the frontman of Widowers, a Denver-based psych-pop band. During the following years, he formed additional projects, collaborated with a number of like-minded Denver artists, and performed extensively. After a cancer diagnosis in 2012 and a challenging but successful year of treatment, Marchant abandoned his creative projects and moved to New Mexico in pursuit of a quieter, healthier lifestyle. In 2018, he began making music again, forming Lightning Cult and Steady Circuits. He chose not to return to touring and performing, instead devoting his time and energy to composition, production, and recording.
“Mike Marchant has already demonstrated a lackadaisical mastery of dreamy, druggy indie-folk... Veering from bare, echo-rattled acoustic songs to bubbly psychedelic pop, Marchant uses everything from lap steel to distorted drum machines to augment his wispy yet soulful voice and songwriting.”
“In songs that swing from giant and anthemic to distortion-caked and widescreen, Lightning Cult conjure galaxies of sound”
“One of Denver’s most admired songwriters and performers, Marchant’s engaging stage presence, affable demeanor and soulful performance always catch eyes and ears.”
“As Steady Circuits, the multi-instrumentalist makes quite an impression with this debut album that is nearly impossible to categorize, as he references the current indie-rock scene as well as throwback electronica... a busy and dizzying display of adventurous electro-pop that’s not short on ambience”
“...Sonorous vocals floating above grinding synths and miasmic electric guitar lines...”
“It immediately feels like a new chapter for the songwriting of Mike Marchant whose early experimental and psychedelic rock bands sculpted a more maximalist approach to songwriting into heartfelt nuggets of great emotional power. The latter aspect remains here but every detail of sound is so well integrated and mixed you’re immediately immersed in a journey of personal rediscovery”
“Subtle dynamics and vocalizing with strong yet nuanced emotion.... There is a timeless quality to Marchant’s music because he’s never really tried to fit in with trends while not spending much time mining the past. ”
“You’d never know Marchant produced the record alone. He plays synthesizers, keyboards, drum machines, guitars, percussion, melodica—and melodeon!—and sings. What is apparent, however, is a psychedelic, unearthly sound. ‘Many Worlds’ sounds like Marchant traveled through unknown universes, to countless planets, and learned to use the local styles...”
“...one of Denver’s most celebrated songwriters...”
“Dark and moody pop songs...material that hits you like a heady blend of 90s indiepop, with its embrace of experimental elements, and the kind of accessible art rock one hears in the best of Spoon’s output.”