Cuddle Magic is a six-piece avant-pop / chamber-pop band formed in 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. The members — Benjamin Lazar Davis, Alec Spiegelman, Christopher McDonald, Kristin Slipp, Cole Kamen-Green, and Dave Flaherty — met while they were students at the New England Conservatory of Music. Their music blends a variety of styles and influences: indie folk, experimental pop, world music, complex meters and compositional techniques (e.g. 12-tone rows), chamber instrumentation, vocal harmonies, and often a tension between acoustic and electronic sounds. They have released several albums, including Cuddle Magic (2008), Picture (2010), Info Nympho (2012), Ashes/Axis (2017), and Bath (2020), the latter recorded with all six members performing together in a bathroom, with no overdubs. Their work has also incorporated world music elements: Benjamin Lazar Davis has done study in West Africa, and Ashes/Axis reflect Ghanaian musical influences. Their songs move with chamber-like intimacy, weaving acoustic instruments, rich harmonies, and curious electronics into something both fragile and bold.
Underwater, their latest full-length is out now via Egghunt Records.

What They Say: “Relationships don’t ever really end -they continue to exist as uninvited specters, a melancholic residue trailing behind. In the video, Kristin is the ghost, descending upon and obliterating the people of her past. The video takes the song, a wistful, lush composition recorded totally live in a reverberant bathroom, and turns it on its head -the narrator isn’t wistful, she’s vengeful. She’s not disempowered -she’s a force, and she has come to avenge the wrongs of the past. We went back to the bathroom that birthed Bath & lingered even longer to lay down these latest songs. It’s the most personal & collaborative record we’ve ever made and we’re really proud of it.“

Their Mixtape:

Liz Phair – Polyester Bride

Liz Phair hides revelations in the sneaky modulations of this great song. Wish I wrote this one. Been trying to rewrite it my entire career. (Alec Spiegelman)

Kenny Wheeler – The Sweet Time Suite, Part I – Opening

This piece floors me with its majesty and beauty. And it’s catchy right!? Closed harmonies amongst this instrumentation massages my brain. (Cole Kamen-Green)

Tim McGraw – 7500 OBO

I like to put this on when I’m driving with the windows down, and sing along really loud. Benjamin Lazar Davis put me on to pop country, and it can be so undeniably infectious. (Kristin Slipp)

Laurel Halo – Naked to the Light

This collage of piano, achingly beautiful strings, and electronic textures are astonishing to me. It hovers like a cloud on the horizon, faintly illuminated with flecks of dissonance. This recording features the cellist Lucy Railton, who appears on some of our early albums.

Johan Graden & Ellen Arkbro – Close

I love the intimacy of this song. The instruments and the overall sonic world is where I want to be all the time – bass clarinet, clarinet, tuba, synth, pipe organ. Really beautiful stuff. (Christopher McDonald)

Keith Jarrett – 4 (from Clavichord)

The harmonic and rhythmic interplay in this piece is mesmerizing. And the tonality of the instrument – the Clavichord – is equally fascinating. It’s like a more pointed, rang-expanded nylon string guitar. Keith Jarrett explores this instrument in a remarkable way. (Christopher McDonald)

Underwater is out now via Egghunt Records. Look HERE for more information on Cuddle Magic