a time capsule of post-internet existentialism

“You might be formless, but you might be nonetheless you,” write LA synth-pop duo Magdalena Bay on the eerie corridors of the darkly sci-fi web site that accompanies their second album, ‘Imaginal Disk’. It’s the form of metaphysical, techno-spiritual world-building followers anticipate: in the present day’s alt-pop is not any stranger to otherworldly e-girl pantomime and puzzling fictional web sites, and Magdalena Bay’s expands upon their mysterious universe.

Over 5 years, Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin’s vaporwave fantasia has spanned post-internet mysticism and new-age philosophies. Their acclaimed debut, 2021’s ‘Mercurial World’ – a surreal silvery disco that landed someplace between Grimes and Chvrches – was cacophonous and maximalist hyperspace pop, huge and never-ending. Satire and sincerity drove their Y2K retro-futurist imaginative and prescient, the place the overstimulating web turned a portal to self-discovery. Their chops garnered a credit score on the debut EP from TWICE‘s Jihyo, and even Lil Yachty bought Magdalena-fever on 2023’s ‘Operating Out of Time’.

Throughout the kitschy pilgrimage of its cerebral follow-up ‘Imaginal Disk’, Tenenbaum and Lewin additional consolidate this lore, however cracks within the matrix – the actual world, the detrimental results of being terminally on-line, and so forth – threaten the euphoria of on-line escapism. It’s soundtracked by the identical anachronistic, trippy synth-pop of its predecessor however grounded by the busk-y tambourine and analogue percussion of indie-pop.

There’s an suave slant because of Chairlift-indebted avant-pop, but it’s by no means pretentious or – regardless of its sci-fi narrative – too involved with the longer term. It’s nonetheless progressive, thoughts, however the place ‘Mercurial World’ was knowledgeable by trendy pop, ‘Imaginal Disk’ avoids the affect of latest music virtually solely, based on press materials.

Nostalgic instrumentation softens the synth-pop fringe of ‘Imaginal Disk’, which has the additional advantage of cementing its prompt timelessness, imbuing the document with a campy, psychedelic, maudlin strategy – one which feels all of the extra attention-grabbing as a counter to minimalist, bratty, celebration pop.

Whereas gothic, theatrical St Vincent-ish vocals infatuate the wistful ‘Vampire within the Nook’, a Woodstock shrooms journey evokes the hypnotic delusion of the satirical ‘Love is All over the place’ (which interpolates that sun-drenched Lil Yachty lower). Then, an 80s-inspired, I Noticed the TV Glow-coded monster stalks the accompanying video for indie-disco monitor ‘Picture’; celestial horns and echo chambers usher soft-pop armageddon on the unravelling groove-rock of standout ‘Tunnel Imaginative and prescient’, and Tenenbaum is a dancefloor deity on noughties grunge banger ‘That’s My Flooring’.

By the point the technicolour show-stopper ‘The Ballad of Mica and Matt’ reprises the cutesy melody of its earthbound, pacifist opener ‘She Appeared Like Me!’, it’s crystal that ‘Imaginal Disk’ captures the visionaries at their most expansive, but corporeal. Stylishly gauche and expertly overproduced, kaleidoscopically experimental and expressionistic, ‘Imaginal Disk’ is a zeitgeisty time capsule of anxious post-internet existentialism and the net situation noticed via a synthy flower-power lens. Right here, Magdalena Bay are underrated pop messiahs on the high of their sport.

Particulars 

• Report label: Mother + Pop
• Launch date: August 23, 2024