Magdalena Bay

Since 2016 · United States

See them on the map

Imaginal Disk (2024)

Imaginal Disk wraps a loose concept about identity and metamorphosis around Magdalena Bay's densest, most orchestrated production yet, swapping some of their earlier work's straightforward pop hooks for something stranger and more cinematic. "Death & Romance" carries that ambition clearly, horns and layered vocal harmonies building toward a climax that feels genuinely theatrical rather than merely maximalist. The album commits fully to its narrative conceit without ever losing sight of Mica Tenenbaum's melodic instincts underneath. It stands as the record where the duo's conceptual ambitions and their pop songwriting finally matched each other in scale.

Sleeve notes

Magdalena Bay

Imaginal Disk · 2024

Magdalena Bay formed around Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, who met as teenagers and began releasing music together after relocating to Los Angeles, building a sound that pairs Tenenbaum's melodic songwriting with Lewin's dense, maximalist synth-pop production. Their early releases established a strong visual and conceptual identity alongside the music, drawing on both nostalgic synth textures and contemporary digital aesthetics in equal measure.

Imaginal Disk, their second album, arrived in 2024 built around a loose narrative concept about identity and transformation, pushing their sound toward more orchestral and cinematic territory than their earlier, more straightforwardly poppy work. The duo has continued developing that same combination of conceptual ambition and pop songcraft since, building a devoted following through both their recorded output and elaborate live visuals. Magdalena Bay's catalog has moved steadily from internet-native synth-pop toward something more ambitious in both sound and scope.