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Imaginal Disk is the second studio album by the American musical duo Magdalena Bay, released through Mom + Pop Music on August 23, 2024. Both members of the duo, Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, entirely wrote and produced the album, while Tenenbaum provided the lead vocals. It is a concept album centered on the fictional character True. After a compact disc-shaped object, homonymous with the album, is implanted into her forehead in order to create her ideal self, her body rejects it and she relearns the meaning of being human. Recurring lyrical themes include self-exploration and consciousness. Musically, Imaginal Disk is a synth-pop, dance-pop, and electronic rock album. It was supported by four singles—"Death & Romance", "Image", "Tunnel Vision", and "That's My Floor"—released between May and August 2024; three of them were accompanied by Peter Gabriel-influenced music videos that follow the narrative of the album, with Tenenbaum portraying True. Magdalena Bay further promoted it with a concert tour, the Imaginal Mystery Tour, which commenced in September 2024 and is set to conclude in October 2025. Upon its release, the album received acclaim from music critics. Most reviewers praised its style and considered it an improvement from their debut album, Mercurial World (2021). It appeared on several year-end listicles of the best music, as well as on a mid-decade ranking by Paste. The same magazine also named "Death & Romance" the best song released in 2024. Commercially, Imaginal Disk reached the top 40 in Australia and appeared on secondary charts in the United Kingdom and the United States.
A dream pop style electronic album. Some tracks are interesting, but after a few the soft baby faced style of singing starts to annoy me. It could have been good if it just wasn't as boring as it is.
Essential
Rating: 10/10
I accidentally had this set on repeat album and so I listened to it about 1.5 times which means 1) I couldn’t really tell the tracks apart and 2) That’s okay because I didn’t mind listening to it
Very ethereal, and pretty interesting. I liked the epic swells and the vocal style.
Saw these guys live two days ago and am still riding that high as I write this review. Music as a whole (and the indie sphere especially) has been lacking in good, solid dance music for years, so to have a complex, layered LP full of tracks that still make you want to shake your ass is a triumph. There's so much work that's been put into stacking the synths, piano, and killer (non-synth) bass lines into towering compositions that feel full of life, but without overwhelming the production or listener and still managing to feel slick as hell. While it's easy to overlook on more electronic tracks, the musicianship of this duo is pretty insane – the keyboard runs aren't easy by any means, and their show was the first time I've seen a keytar used (and to great effect) in the 200+ concerts I've had the chance to see. Yet, almost in spite of the compositional work they've invested, Magdalena manage to make each one of these tracks infectiously catchy and simple to dance along to. It shows clear focus and intent that such well-written songs can be enjoyed either at the club or listening intently at home. I challenge anyone to find a catchier, sexier track than 'Image,' a song that pulses with desire and feels like a revelation in an indie sphere that's tended towards brooding, singer-songwriter focused work over the past few years. While this LP is a more recent release, I think the dust has settled just enough aside its notable artistic caliber to mark this as a potential top 100 album of the decade when Stereogum writes their huge review article 5 years from now. Just great music at the end of the day and a solid addition to the list!
One of the best from last year
I found this to be a pretty congenial listen but felt like the group still needs some development. This particular vocal affect, with its sort of little-girl diva thing wears thin, and the music could use some more analog structure to broaden the tone. But I liked it, and found it promising. I'll likely seek out more.
To me this is the type of indie electronic pop that Lorde wishes she could make. This album was actually pretty cool and had that feeling you were listening to something unique. The productions was solid and paired well with the soft spacey vocals of the singer. Really a pretty decent pop album. 6.2/10
My prediction is this will be artsy but amateur. Genre... I'm gonna say indie? Ok got both predictions. Not unpleasant, but almost an hour was a stretch. The chick's voice was nice. 3/5.
Synth-pop, dance-pop, electronic rock. Tostón. Un 2.