The Spookfish, Cuddle Formation

For Dan Goldberg, aka The Spookfish, the rigors of change and exploration have left as indelible a mark on his personality and music as much as the biological process of evolution has set the wild spookfish apart; the name being given to two different sea creatures, each with its own distinctly different sort of eye structure. From acoustical leanings, manifest for some time in a deep interest in John Fahey’s music, to the textural loops and other hallmarks of more found music and home production, The Spookfish has always navigated a unique course — in “Snake Song,” just one of the standouts from his new recordings for Singapore Sling, Living Room, Goldberg sings “In my dreams, the snakes do comfort me / In the garden, in the garden,” becoming kindred even with that archetypal agent of change. Andi Wilson premiered the track earlier this week at YoursTruly in a post that appropriately evokes the contrast of disillusionment with spaces and perspectives that better satisfy a range of human needs, an easy link to draw with Goldberg as his beloved tradition of ‘Mountain Shows’ gain steam, currently busing New Yorkers out to the woods for live music, much as I remember his early efforts in South Korea bringing them up onto accessible urban rooftops.


hi! i'm noah. i collect microcassette recordings + iphone voice memos of the environment that my life inhabits. sometimes this means capturing the energy of a protest, finding an abandoned piano in the ruins of an old home, hearing really beautiful insect noises at night, or wanting to remember the melodies that my friends make up at 3am. cuddle formation is a process, a remembrance, and a living document of my memories and mantras through music.