Review: Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay released via Mom + Pop
In 2021 Matt Lewin and Mica Tenebaum put out Mercurial World an excellent pop record made even better by its deluxe version only the following year. At the time, I thought Magdalena Bay was rather underrated but now with the release of album two, Imaginal Disk, I see just how wrong I was. This duo seems to be everywhere online right now and, given how strong this record is, it's no wonder.
When they put their minds together, Matt and Mica can make anything sound fun. The record opens with "She Looked Like Me" a track which goes all in on American's stripping the language and culture from migrant families as well as the military violence against them in their own homeland. All of this is heavily criticized in a huge pop song made appealing because it's so much fun sonically. When you're in pop music this is a valuable skill to have. More audiences are willing to overlook evil, forcing them to have fun to something they will be made uncomfortable by is something I'd encourage any artist to do.
Magdalena Bay doesn't exclusively use this skill for political awareness, however. "Killing Time" poses a question on why relaxing is viewed as a time waster and implores you to re-frame this to avoid burning out. "Watching T.V." bait and switches its themes by painting an image of someone crossing your mind while idle, only to have it slowly revealed the track is about someone the author is worried about from their own habits. All of this over a slow burning track with a captivating raspy delivery and killer synth solo. Sonically, the duo explores their genre fluidity even deeper than ever before. "She Looked Like Me" starts as an introductory ballad and explodes to something more akin to their prog rock roots. From there "Killing Time" is a chilled-out track built on bass and percussion. Both of these tracks are in total contrast and yet at no point does anything on the record feel like it doesn't go with everything else. Even when tracks go together in context it still feels so alive. The end of the "True Blue" interlude into "Image" has a wavy synth transition with the imagery of traveling through space. I had heard "Death & Romance" so many times prior to the full length dropping and yet when it went seamlessly into "Fear, Sex" it felt totally re-contextualized. It's like experiencing it live every time. "She Looked Like Me" is reprised three separate times on Imaginal Disk and yet never feels stale. First on "Love is Everywhere" into "Felling Diskinserted," both of which use its signature melody with new lyricism. Then finally the song is fully reprised on "The Ballad of Matt & Mica" as the finale to the record. Them using this same piece of music four times and it feeling earned on each is a feat of song writing. Not just track one, every song this duo makes is a hit. Single choices are all sort of a blur and a decision of marketing as there are not songs on this album which outshine any other song on this album. If I were to cite as example of a track one should look to for gauging enjoying this album, however, it'd be "Tunnel Vision." This song sees Matt and Mica use the entire range of sound, instrumentation, beat and style changes found on all of Imaginal Disk in just five minutes. This song even sees Magdalena Bay, somehow, utilize their improv skills in a studio setting with a beat switched declared by "kitty got out." The song comes to an end with a massive prog rock section, complete with swirling vocals, ripping guitar and huge percussion before hard turning into "Love is Everywhere" as if you're just supposed to immediately recover from the climax.
Comments
Post a Comment