| Imaginal Disk | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Magdalena Bay |
| Cover: | Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk.png |
| Alt: | A gray hand with long fingernails pushing a CD into an opening in a bare-chested woman's head, with a blue sky and the sun shining in the background. |
| Studio: | Mag Bay HQ |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 53:36 |
| Label: | Mom + Pop |
| Producer: | |
| Prev Title: | Mini Mix, Vol. 3 |
| Prev Year: | 2023 |
Imaginal Disk is the second studio album by American alternative pop duo Magdalena Bay, released on August 23, 2024, through Mom + Pop Music. It received universal acclaim from critics.
Imaginal Disk is the second album of Magdalena Bay, a Los Angeles-based duo consisting of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, originating from Miami, Florida. The band released their debut album, Mercurial World, in October 2021, and their third mixtape, Mini Mix, Vol. 3, in April 2023.[1] On June 7, 2023, Mom + Pop Music announced that the band had signed to the label, with Magdalena Bay stating "We're so excited for what the future holds! The next stage, the next phase is here."[2]
Imaginal Disk has been identified by reviewers as drawing stylistically from a wide range of genres, including pop music, dance-pop, psychedelia, disco, synth-pop, shoegaze, new age, and progressive rock.
Described by the band and some reviewers as a "loose concept album",[3] the lyrics of Imaginal Disk establish a narrative revolving around True, a character represented by Tenenbaum in the album's music videos. True is implanted with a Imaginal Disk, an object shaped like a compact disc, into her forehead to transform into her ideal self. When True's body rejects the Disk, she undertakes a journey to understand "what it means to be human".[3] The band stated that the narrative for the album was developed after the writing of the music, with the narrative provided as a "layer of meaning on top of the record" and enmeshed in the visual design of the album and videos.[3]
Imaginal Disk shares its name with imaginal discs, structures within the bodies of insect larvae that emerge to form parts of their adult bodies.[3] The title was inspired by Tenenbaum's reading into metamorphosis and her interest in the relationship between these genetic processes and "ideas of self" as they applied to human nature. Lewin stated the album title acted as a "double entendre" to connect the album cover's concept of "inserting a disk into someone’s forehead" with these themes of "consciousness, memory (and) awareness".[3]
The first single from Imaginal Disk was announced on May 28, 2024 with release of the lead single, "Death and Romance", also the first release for the band on label Mom + Pop.[4] [5] On June 18, the release was supported by a music video directed by Amanda Kramer, extended to contain the song "Fear, Sex".[6] Imaginal Disk was announced on July 10, accompanied by second single "Image" and a video also directed by Kramer,[7] [8] [9] followed by a third single, "Tunnel Vision", on July 31.[10]
Alongside the lead single, the "Imaginal Mystery Tour", was announced on May 28, 2024, in promotion of the new album in the United States, Europe, and Australia, from September 2024[4] [5] to March 2025.[11] Magdalena Bay made their late-night television debut performing "Image" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 30.[12] [13]
Imaginal Disk received acclaim, according to review aggregator Metacritic, receiving positive reviews from Allmusic, NME, Paste, Slant Magazine, and Under the Radar.
Nick Seip of Slant Magazine wrote that the album "finds [Magdalena Bay] at their most radical" and "offers a confluence of ideas that allows for strange detours through a sonic hall of mirrors". Matthew Kim of The Line of Best Fit described it as "the product of a band intensely honing what they want to sound like and ending up with a style so unique that it's barely possible to describe. It's dorky and strange and dramatic, like the duo themselves."
NMEs Otis Robinson found it to be "kaleidoscopic and overproduced in all the right ways" and "soundtracked by the same anachronistic, trippy synth-pop of its predecessor but grounded by the busk-y tambourine and analogue percussion of indie-pop". Caleb Campbell of Under the Radar stated that "if the duo's previous record showed off their mastery of pop songcraft, Magdalena Bay feel more interested in exploring new textures and emotional range on Imaginal Disk". Sputnikmusic commended the album's "craft and attention to detail", but considered the album to lack depth due to its "over-stimulated (and) disoriented" premise and cursory treatment of its themes about "technology, disassociation, intimacy and self-orientation in a world of distance".
| Accolade | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Consequence | The 50 Best Albums of 2024 | 29 | [14] |
| Exclaim! | 50 Best Albums of 2024 | 15 | [15] |
| Paste | The 100 Best Albums of 2024 | 26 | [16] |
| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2024 | 19 | [17] |
| Rough Trade UK | Albums of the Year 2024 | 18 | [18] |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums Of 2024 | 5 | [19] |
Magdalena Bay
Additional musicians
Technical
Visuals