In the current pop landscape, there are few acts as exciting—or as remarkably consistent—as Magdalena Bay . The duo, made up of Matt Lewin and Mica Tenenbaum, high school buddies turned partners in life and work, have spent the best part of a decade quietly churning out slices of synth-pop genius, married with distinctive visuals created by the pair themselves. That journey culminated in their debut album, 2021’s Mercurial World : One of the year’s most inventive pop records, it served as a rollercoaster ride through the band’s eclectic sonic universe, while also boasting some of the catchiest hooks in recent memory.
(Seriously: Three years later, I still can’t get “ Hysterical Us ” out of my head.) Why, then, have they remained something of an in-the-know favorite for pop fanatics, when in a more just world their singles would be topping charts? Their second album, Imaginal Disk —released tomorrow—may change all that. Across 15 all-killer, no-filler tracks, the duo flex their preternatural instincts for writing an irresistible pop melody, while also venturing into uncharted territory.
The theatrical sweep of lead single “Death and Romance”—all groovy, ABBA-esque keyboards and thundering drums—flirts with psych-rock, while the delightfully bonkers “Tunnel Vision” builds and builds with Tenenbaum’s cherubic vocals over twinkling piano before it erupts into a epic prog-rock breakdown of guitars and live drums, synths squiggling around them like.