Magdalena Bay ‘Imaginal Disk’
After 2023’s Mini Mix Vol. 3, which might’ve fed other fanbases a long while, Magdalena Bay circled back less than a year later to deliver their long-awaited second full-length album. Here’s everything you need to know about what Magdalena Bay accomplishes with Imaginal Disk.
A High Concept Narrative Drives Magdalena Bay Through Imaginal Disk
It may be hard to parse out given Magdalena Bay’s metaphor-heavy writing style and lead singer Mica Tenenbaum’s signature whispering style, but Imaginal Disk is a true concept album. The story told is one that’s equal parts creation story and equal parts winking irony, deadpan humor explored plenty in their pre-debut social media presence. The SparkNotes version: Tenenbaum receives a CD that contains the “essence of humanity.” As you find out with punny song titles like “Feeling DiskInserted?”, it’s not everything it’s cracked up to be.
The esoteric nature of this album’s narrative is almost beside the point; Imaginal Disk is perhaps more comprehensible without tacking on that additional layer. As a general rule, the project is their signature sound on 11. Higher highs both in quality and in emotion come from the increased production value, and much of the LP carries truly cheery overtones. Take the album’s true starting point, “Killing Time,” which is built on a meandering bass line and sprightly instrumentation in its first half, despite some more complex emotions in the lyrics: “I’m looking in the mirror and swallowing the key / It only takes a minute to forget a week.”
“Image” & “Vampire in the Corner” Prove The Project’s Most Addictive
Many of the project’s biggest highlights come with that sort of dissonance. Jump to “Image,” one of the singles released in the lead-up. Though Tenenbaum hits pop star falsettos with refrains of “Ooh, so hot / Meet your brand new image,” the depth of the song comes from heavily processed SFX that plays like entering a warp drive, drilling home the campy sci-fi atmosphere of the project even if you’re not totally clued in to the plotline.
Then to “Vampire in the Corner,” a perfect example of the mystique-filled love song that Magdalena Bay made their bones off of in their early career and continue to develop with Imaginal Disk. While the verse sections sound like they’re iterating on the futuristic lean of Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories,” the hook gives way to beautifully bare melodies and classical piano chords, no doubt a novel addition in this second album era.
A Truly Complete Project From Start To Finish
The more accessible material on Imaginal Disk may paint this as a Magdalena Bay album played entirely straight, but Mica & Matt take some stranger swings as well. “That’s My Floor” cakes layers of synths over distorted, clipping vocal lines, a genuine “everything but the kitchen sink” sort of composition that resolves with Kraftwerk-like keys. “Tunnel Vision” flips Tenenbaum’s tender tenor for a retro pop ballad replete with kitschy keys, building to a glam rock-type drum line at the end. Things can get weird on Imaginal Disk, for sure, but they don’t take any gamble just for the sake of it. Or if they do, at least they don’t sacrifice any cohesiveness in the process.
Things let off with the ultra-sweet “Ballad of Mica and Matt,” a moment where the two members of Magdalena Bay get meta about the path preceding Imaginal Disk. For long-time fans, the transparent look into the pair’s dynamics is the best sort of fan service, letting the audience in on the driving relationship behind nearly a half-decade of standout material. In a current music scene where aping other artists and chasing sounds feels like it’s rewarded so often, it’s worth cherishing that Magdalena Bay has settled into a sound that’s entirely their own.
You can find Imaginal Disk and the rest of the Magdalena Bay catalog wherever you stream your music.
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