"Dawning of the Season" - A (Somewhat) Brief Magdalena Bay Retrospective
In September of 2024, I was looking for new releases because 2024 was the year where I listened to the most new music. There were several releases by artists I already listened to, like Brittany Howard, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Justice, and St. Vincent, as well as albums that ended up being my gateway into artists like Charli XCX, Ginger Root, and Jamie xx. But then I saw a review for a certain album, and then another, and another claiming it was album of the year. Without listening to any of the singles off of it, I downloaded it and went into it completely blind. That album was the Prog “Imaginal Disk” by the duo of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, aka Magdalena Bay, the band in 2024 that blew my mind.
Background: As previously mentioned, Magdalena Bay is a duo formed of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin based in Florida. Long before forming the band, they met in an after-school music program, doing classic rock covers, where they would eventually form the progressive rock group Tabula Rasa, where they were inspired by bands like Genesis, King Crimson, and Yes. That would only last for two albums and an EP (One of those projects called “Crimson,” which I of course listened to). Tabula Rasa’s breakup happened because Matt and Mica, as well as their bandmates, all went to different colleges, which made it very difficult to record prog rock. But it was easier to make electropop long distance, aka a genre in which the duo had no experience or much knowledge. They figured out that while it was easier to put a pop song together remotely, it still had difficulties, which they took as a challenge. With Mica sticking to vocals and picking up a keytar, Matt handling the other instrumentation and production, and taking inspiration from a distant co-worker’s name (Maggie Bay), they formed Magdalena Bay in 2016, with their first releases in 2019.
2019 - Day/Pop and Night/Pop EPs: Starting their discography off, Matt and Mica dropped their Day/Pop and Night/Pop EPs a few days apart in January 2019. There’s not much I could really find about these two records, and they don’t hold much in the grand scheme of things for the duo, other than they performed the songs live for a few shows in 2019. There are some details of these EPs I find interesting, though. Some aspects of their music are rare like Matt having some vocals on the pair of opening tracks of “Waking Up” and “Neon,” as well as doing covers. They cover Tears For Fears with “Head Over Heels” and Childish Gambino with “Redbone.” While I’m mixed on their version of “Redbone,” the “Head Over Heels” cover is pretty solid and shows them nailing a retro-futuristic sound. A sound they will keep on running with.
One thing that feels different from most of their work is Mica’s singing voice, which sounds a little lower register than how it sounds on Imaginal Disk. It feels surreal to hear the 80s synth-pop of Mag Bay mixed with Mica’s vocal stylings of Tabula Rasa. Outside of that, these EPs are fine. They're a solid start, and I recommend them more for visiting after checking out the albums that come afterward than a starting point.
2019/2020 - Mini Mix 1, 2, A Little Rhythm And A Little Wicked Feeling EP :Through 2019 and 2020, the duo will continue with EPs and Mixtapes after signing with Luminelle Recordings, starting their Mini Mix series, which is composed of really short songs messing with different pop sounds. I don't have much to say about them other than they’re solid pop songs, and they are constantly sharpening their sound . Some details I like include: Them starting each Mix with “You’re listening to, Magdalena Baaaay”, “WHO WANTS THE BASS??” in “Turning Off The Rain,” “Woooooww, I hate you, with your stupid face!!” Like their first two EPs, I recommend people to check these out after or between listening to their main albums.
Outside of the main studio albums, my favorite project is their “A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling” EP. It’s more of the straightforward psychedelic-pop they’ve done up to this point, but it has its most well-crafted songs so far. The opener “How To Get Physical,” “Good Intentions,” “Venice,” and the biggest song on the album, “Killshot” are the highlights. I don’t have much else to say about the EP besides it is a solid set of pop pulling from disco to electronic sounds from the 2000s and 2010s. They would continue gaining a cult following with some very trippy and surreal music videos, and “Killshot” got huge on TikTok, even dropping a slowed and reverb version of the track.
2021 - Mercurial World (1st Album): They were supposed to go on to tour their EPs and Mixtapes in 2020, but because it was 2020, the tour was canceled, and they spent their time working on the first full-length album and expanding their sound. While I enjoyed their first few projects, they don’t really stand out compared to other electropop and synthpop artists up to this point, but those were the duo just sharpening their swords. This was just the beginning, or, in Mica’s words, “The End.” On October 8th, 2021, they would drop their full-length debut, “Mercurial World,” and from the jump, they hit you with the existential question of “What’s the end, anyway?” and from there, the band takes you on a journey through dance floor ready tracks full of existential dread.
From this point forward, the band slowly incorporated the Prog Rock sound from their previous band with their current pop sound, so quite a few of the songs on this album sounded bigger and more cinematic. Going back to the opening song, “The End,” starts with somewhat cynical thoughts and a fear of an ever-changing world, which continues to the title track, putting massive scale to the fear of the world falling apart while you’re in love with someone. Along with the apocalyptic topics, there’s plenty about social anxieties and depression, like on “Secrets(Your Fire),” “Chaeri,” and “You Lose!”. While all that is happening with the songwriting, this shit grooves. Mica’s vocals are amazing on each song, but Matthew’s production and playing are just as brilliant. I had “Secrets(Your Fire)” on a loop for the longest time. It’s their best song up to this point, with striking synthesizers, bass guitar, and saxophone from Giacomo Cazzaro and Juan Ignacio Varela, and even an interpolation of “Say You’ll Be There” by the Spice Girls. It’s something I absolutely want to hear on a dancefloor or while on a roller rink at some point.
Continuing with the striking melodies, there’s also “Dawning of the Season,” the previously brought up “Chaeri,” “Hysterical Us,” “Something for 2,” and the closing track, “The Beginning”, those last three being the most optimistic tracks in an apocalyptic project. “The Beginning,” a song about coming to terms with facing an unpredictable world with a lover, actually loops right back into “The End,” with the album being a constant cycle of cynicism and optimism.
Mercurial World was a critical success, getting good reviews and gaining the band a larger cult following in the indie circles. They even opened for artists like Flume, Porter Robinson, and Charli XCX, and went on their headlining tour, The Mercurial Tour. A year later, they dropped the deluxe edition of Mercurial World, which added more songs, remixes, alternate takes, as well as voice mails from fans, known as “Secrets,” which people submitted to mercurialworld.com. That website would also have many easter eggs and hidden lore for the album, though I haven't really dug into that side of the band. Back to the Deluxe Edition, it feels like a New Game Plus for the album. All the bonus tracks are intertwined with the album’s original tracks, and while they’re a nice edition, I prefer listening to the OG version.
2024 - Imaginal Disk (2nd Album): After all that, we get to the main event, well, right after their Mini Mix Vol. 3 in 2023, which is probably the best Mix. Songs like “2 Wheel Drive” and “Top Dog” are a good time, but just like the other ones, I don’t have much to say about it. I do have a lot to say about their second album, “Imaginal Disk,” released on August 23rd, 2024, an album that they teased in a press release when they signed to Mom+Pop Music would be “The Next Phase.”
Where do I start with this album? Before I start gushing about this thing, I should give some more background info. The duo began recording back in 2022, where they would dig deeper into their prog rock and prog pop influences, like Peter Gabriel, ELO, and Pink Floyd. They also took inspiration from artists like Paul McCartney, St. Vincent, Fiona Apple, and even movies like Suspiria, Flash Gordon, and Hausu(House). When you combine all that you get a concept record that feels very dreamlike, with a story that feels almost like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The story’s main character has to deal with an identity crisis, break ups, and trying to break cycles, mixing it with a surreal and abstract 80s/90s Sci-Fi feel. The album plays the story a little loose, though, because Mica, in an interview with Vogue, said, “It was very much a case of songs first, concept later,” and I’ve seen multiple interpretations of what the album means from it playing loose. I want to dig deeper into the storytelling another time, but for now, how does it sound?
This album clicked with me on first listen, but not entirely at first. I liked the opener, "She Looked Like Me!” and enjoyed how cinematic it sounded, though I didn’t think much of it at first. I enjoyed the songs that would come after, and I’ll get back to those in a moment, but once I got to “Death and Romance,” this album felt like something truly special. If I had to pick my favorite song of 2024, it would probably be “Death and Romance,” which I had on loop for DAYS before I even went back to the rest of the album. Matt’s striking keyboard, synths, organ, amazing-sounding studio drumming, Mica’s stellar songwriting, and gorgeous and infectious voice had me in a trance for days. One of my favorite details in the whole album is when they have her vocals right before the second chorus bleeds in with the instrumental. It’s a perfect sounding pop song.
Once I finally got to the rest of the album, it felt like the rest of the songs finally unlocked. I adore how detail-rich everything is and how songs like “Killing Time,” ”Image,” “Vampire In The Corner,” “Tunnel Vision,” and “Watching TV,”start off as pretty tame pop rock tracks that transform into their behemoths by the end. Especially “Watching TV” being the most prog rock thing the band has done since Tabula Rasa, taking you on a self-destructive, glitchy meltdown. The parts towards the end with Mica’s voice rising, with her yelling, “It’s time to meet the monsters around you. It’s time to meet the monsters inside you”, while the drums are glitching like the song is almost about to have the wheels fall off gives me chills every time. They’ve really mastered how to make songs progress and get the most out of a sound.
One of the other huge bright spots is the album's pacing. Almost all the songs flow into each other, feeling seamless and making the whole record feel more dreamlike. Hell, the interludes, “True Blue Interlude” and “Feeling Diskinserted?”are outstanding on their own, the former sounding so soothing and refreshing while setting up some of the story details and even a title drop for the album, and the latter being the calm before the storm setting up the last chunk of the album. It’s one of those albums that loves to immerse you in its world and play by its own rules. That final leg of the album takes you from the St. Vincent-inspired fuzz rock of “That’s My Floor,” into the described “villain song,” “Cry For Me,” which pulls heavily from Disco, complete with a 70s/80s fade out, into the tear-jerker ending combo of “Angel On A Satellite” and “The Ballad of Matt and Mica.” Those last songs, which were teased throughout the whole album, absolutely stick the landing. Hearing Mica sing, “Damn man, play that thing. Makes me think of summer winds and faces that I know, just the ones I love to hold”, and follow that up with “Damn, man, play that thing. Keep on pulling at my strings 'Cause when I see me through your eyes I love me, so don't leave my side”, with the string section in the background never fails to leave me teary-eyed.
The duo ends the album with “The Ballad of Matt and Mica,” which celebrates love and the not-so-ordinary, mirroring “She Looked Like Me!” in sound, but also with the opener feeling desperate from the main character’s perspective and the finale feeling satisfied. Even though it’s the most upbeat song on the album, I love that it still ends the album in uncertainty, with a string buildup as the rest of the music fades out. While the band celebrates a “Happy Ending,” they acknowledge that no one knows how long they last. Then it circles back to the album’s beginning, where this sci-fi musical odyssey completely clicked with me, and it only got better with every listen. It resonated with a ton of other people as well. There has been nothing but glowing reviews, and it has been their most significant release to date.
Epilogue: So, that was the Magdalena Bay story, so far, and I’m so excited to see how Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewen evolve from here. Since the release of Imaginal Disk, they’ve been touring for the album on the “Imaginal Mystery” tour (I’m so pumped to see them live!), they’ve had their first official TV performance on Jimmy Kimmel, put out a cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” and they even made a remix of “Image” by Grimes, one of their main musical influences. Where they go from here, who knows? For them, though, this is just the Dawning of the Season.
Let me know what you think of this retrospective. I’m super excited to continue with this, covering artists and bands of all kinds. Below are some interviews and other Magdalena Bay-related stuff. I might return to the group, especially to dig deeper into the theories for “Imaginal Disk.” I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see ya on the next one!
https://www.vogue.com/article/magdalena-bay-imaginal-disk-interview
https://youtu.be/mTN_Hxgaofo?si=Mrd_IRDCMA4ozZrp
https://youtu.be/GtJLM6uBQVs?si=lS7ydqF41HZuYIQd
https://youtu.be/-nfseBsEY-c?si=S5G8Li4Gikb8mGhW