Funnel Cloud is the fourth album by folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band Hem

Hem (band)

Hem is an indie folk-rock band from New York City, United States. Band members include Sally Ellyson , Dan Messé , Gary Maurer , Steve Curtis , George Rush , Mark Brotter , Bob Hoffnar , and Heather Zimmerman .-Band history:In 1999,...

. It was released on Nettwerk

Nettwerk

The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...

 on September 5, 2006. Considered the band's most ambitious work to date, they recorded the album accompanied by a 21-piece orchestra, as well as James Iha

James Iha

James Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...

 of the Smashing Pumpkins.

The concept was conceived on the day of lead singer Sally Ellyson's wedding, during which the party had to evacuate to storm cellars due to a number of tornadoes that touched down in the area.