MP3 Premiere: New Cuddle Magic

Brooklyn-Philly chamber-pop collective preps new album for March release.

By Blurt Staff

Hard to say which we like better - the album title or the song title, which from Cuddle Magic would be, respectively, Info Nympho  and "Moby Dickless." The former, engineered and mixed by Bryce Goggins, is due March 6 on the FYO label, but we've got the latter right here for your listening edification. We trust you will determine there is no Led Zeppelin connection....

05 Moby Dickless by Howlin' Wuelf Media

Some details about the band and the forthcoming album:

"On Info Nympho, Cuddle Magic balances folk timbres with surprising harmonies, pop song-craft with Steve Reich-inspired rhythmic complexity, and direct emotional lyrics with dense wordplay. These are lush, playful songs with wide-ranging instrumentation, including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and many voices.

"When Cuddle Magic first formed at New England Conservatory in Boston, the band's goal was to perform and record music quietly and without amplification. This required the musicians to perform in close proximity to each other and to the audience, which led to the band's name. Their eponymous debut arrived in 2007, followed by their second album, Picture, in 2009. Info Nympho is their third longplayer.

"Besides their group endeavors the members of Cuddle Magic have engaged in collaborations with a diverse range of artists, including Beyonce, guitarist and composer Fred Frith, legendary "third-stream" pianist Ran Blake, the David Wax Museum, Larkin Grimm, Mike & Ruthy (formerly of the Mammals), new music toy-piano virtuoso Phyllis Chen, and progressive string band Joy Kills Sorrow. Members of Cuddle Magic can also be seen performing with Railbird, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Baby States, Ronald Reagan, Bird Fly Yellow, Margaret Glaspy, The People's Champs, Girls Guns and Glory, Lake Street Dive, Petal Shield, Split Red, Yapp!, The Superpowers Horns, and many, many others. The group tours the East Coast regularly and extensively."