Light Chasers is the album born of genius, 15 years in the making and nurtured by an extended family that goes by the adoptive name Cloud Cult. The eight members personify the indie lifestyle that makes them the quintessential non-sellouts that likely have kept the fans they’ve won over since day one back in 1995.

There was joy that inspired the creation of Light Chasers with the recent birth of Nova to married band members Craig and Connie Minowa. But it also has a darker, tragic beginning when eight years ago the Minowas first son passed away, thereby compelling Craig, the songwriter and lead band member for Cloud Cult, to put his life into 100 songs.

They broke onto Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart with Light Chasers, and perform their shows in a manner that is especially peculiar when faced with certain facts. The band is backed by the indie and environmentally conscious record label, Earthology Records – a record label founded by Craig. The label is furnished with its own arts and crafts project of a recording studio made of odds and ends like egg cartons for soundproofing. Add two resident band members who wield brushes (yes brushes) and therein lies the peculiarity.

The marriage of visual art with music is a synthetic, synesthetic experience for fans of their live performances, but the concept was a natural evolution that grew out of sharing studio space with Craig’s then girlfriend, Connie – one half of Cloud Cult’s painting duo – and Cloud Cult painter, Scott West.

“Through the process of being around us, you know, writing music, creating art, sharing a practice-space-slash-painting-studio, Craig came up with having the visual art be part of the stage show in order to give more than the show where you just give musicians on stage doing their thing,” West recalled.

The results of the painting vary with respect to the music and can either be culled from the characters and individual styles of work that West and Connie take from their studio pieces and onto the stage. If the mood fits, their paintings can tread off into impromptu territory, depending on the atmosphere of the venue, but West attests the painting process is akin to writing a song.

“I equate creating a painting quite like writing a song. The difference is we’re writing a song on the spot on that stage at that time so what happens is that the audience gets to see that creative process while the music is happening.” West said. “We don’t particularly paint for a specific song. We’ll take an interpretation for the entire show and the experience of the tour at that time … So I think that the experience all together is what we’re going for.”

For Cloud Cult, West is their painter, but his relationship with music is not entirely rooted in his participation in a band. He is likely the member that most embodies Cloud Cult culture. As Craig’s oldest and best friend, West had once brandished a guitar with Craig for a few now defunct bands until he eventually found visual art to satisfy these two passions.

“A lot of painting ended up being a way to bring painting and music together. I equate power and hue to be much like a key signature, brush strokes to be like rhythm. Inside composition, there’s composition in painting. So there’s a lot of correlation between the two,” West reasoned.

It is evident West the artist has rationalized the quieter artistic medium of painting to his music persona. He, along with Connie and Craig, embody the synergy of visual and musical art that has made Cloud Cult to be the discovery of creativity their fans take pride in.

Cloud Cult will be performing Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Majestic Theater at 8 p.m.