Cuddle Magic is Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christopher McDonald, Dave Flaherty, Alec Spiegelman, Kristin Slipp and Cole Kamen-Green–a six-piece avant-pop band located between Brooklyn and Philadelphia. All six musicians are in-demand collaborators in New York’s musical community and work with a wide array of artists, from pop superstars like Beyoncé to critically lauded independent musicians like Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), as well as with respected figures of the avant-garde like Fred Frith and Ran Blake. The members of Cuddle Magic met as students at Boston’s New England Conservatory.
It’s been a few years since the New Yorker labeled Cuddle Magic’s music “high concept chamber-pop.” At the time, that was a fair statement about a band known to utilize 12-tone rows, odd meters, and extended techniques; a band which had collaborated with new music pianist Phyllis Chen. But with Ashes/Axis, the band’s new full-length record, listeners are less likely to hear echoes of the academy. All sorts of heady compositional devices, both musical and literary, are still present, but the members of Cuddle Magic have learned to bury those influences deeper in the substrate of the music.
June Isenhart is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer based in Somerville. She also performs in the band Miss Bones.
Drawing from many musical traditions, Almost Olive explores heartfelt themes through their catalog of original music balancing groove and heart. Fresh off the release of their debut EP, award winning fiddler and multi-instrumentalist Jacqui Armbruster and multi-style cellist Karl Henry create a dynamic and lush tapestry of sound and voice any listener will enjoy.
Becks is a queer scholar and musician, focusing their work on community engagement and placemaking through music and agriculture. As a musician, Becks works to create events that bridge the divisions in communities. Their scholarship focuses on the inherent queerness of Appalachian music and the importance that music traditions hold, both in Appalachian communities and the queer community. They also work hands-on in local food systems, working on farm projects and learning about small-scale farming in mountain communities.
Becks is also the Project Manager at Plaid Dog Recording Studios in Boston, MA managing crowdfunding and marketing for artists who record at the Studio. Plaid Dog’s crowdfunding model allows artists who are typically unable to access studio spaces to record quality music without accruing any out-of-pocket costs. Becks uses this platform to empower artists from all backgrounds to record and release music while simultaneously pursuing their Master’s Degree in Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University, focusing their thesis on Queer Music Traditions in Appalachia.
Clover-Lynn, also known as hillbillygothic, is an American bluegrass and gothic country musician and TikToker. She is the banjoist of the band Clover-Lynn and The Hellfires.
Clover-Lynn grew up in rural Franklin County, Virginia. Her family has lived in the Appalachia region of the Virginian Blue Ridge Mountains for over two-hundred years. She was raised in the Baptist tradition.
Clover-Lynn grew up listening to country and bluegrass music, citing The Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, and Rhiannon Giddens as early influences. She worked in the tech industry on the west coast before moving back to Virginia to pursue a career in music.[1] She is the lead of the band Clover-Lynn and the Hellfires, formerly called the Laurel Hells Ramblers. In 2024, she performed at the Floyd Country Store music venue in Floyd County, Virginia.
Clover-Lynn amassed a large following on the social media platforms TikTok and Instagram, under the username hillbillygothic, where she posts videos of herself playing the banjo and combatting misognyist and anti-LGBTQ content.
Miki Fiki is an alt-pop project by artist Ted Hartog, founded in 2017 in a ranch-style house in West Nashville. From the debut self-titled EP to the danceable single “Stranger”, Miki Fiki has been influenced by artists as varied as Anderson .Paak to Ben Folds. Jazz/funk instrumentals combine with lyric-heavy verses and expansive harmonies to create a sonic landscape of “indie-pop brilliance” (Lightning 100), a sound that has made fans and friends in sweat-soaked basement shows from Mobile, AL to Amsterdam, NY.
Amelia Day is a queer folk rock powerhouse entering the conversation with mainstays like Brandi Carlile, the Indigo Girls, and Melissa Etheridge. Underscoring her carefree melodies with gritty, confessional lyricism and raw, heartfelt delivery, she performs with an intimacy that makes even new listeners feel familiar. Amelia mixes elements of her adolescent Seattle mixtapes of folk, rock, and jazz in music that plays freely with genre, while still being undeniably “Amelia Day”.
Without a label, manager, or agent, Amelia has sold out venues like Seattle’s iconic The Triple Door, played festivals like Seattle PrideFest, Capitol Hill Block Party, and CHOMP!, been featured on popular stations like KEXP and 107.7 The End, and independently amassed over 4M streams and 120K monthly listeners on Spotify. Amelia Day recently completed her debut, self-booked West Coast tour and is hard at work recording her next project!
Cinamon has been writing music for over 40 years, using it as a powerful form of self-therapy and personal healing. In 2017, they earned an MA in Expressive Therapy with a focus on music therapy from Lesley University. Their journey of recovery continues through the transformative power of creative expression, where music remains at the core of their healing process.
Now based in New York, Zola Simone grew up in Boston, and has been writing and releasing music for almost a decade. Zola coined “androgynous pop” for her music that draws sonic influence from the 80’s and queer-pop contemporaries. Her catalog includes 40+ songs, five EPs and the two albums, Now You See Me and most recently, Kaleidoscope.
Zola’s recognized in Boston where, at the Boston Music Awards, she was named Artist of the Year and her song, “Easy” won Song of The Year. “Easy” was also featured in the series finale of the Netflix original series, Atypical. On the live side, Zola has played venues from Boston’s Paradise Rock Club and New York’s Mercury Lounge, to Boston Calling in 2024.
Zola’s Sophomore album, Kaleidoscope, was released on February 21st, 2025, and received support from Spotify, landing on the All New Pop and Lazy Afternoon playlists. Kaleidoscope was rolled out in the form of three EPs, Red, Green and Blue.
Rosa Joe Jacobs is a Brooklyn-bred, Boston-based songwriter and musician. Heavily inspired by American roots music, Rosa Joe strives to bring new perspectives lyrically and sonically to the genre and hopes to take up space as a black woman in a style in which black women have historically been underrepresented.
